Lousy Art Puns
Sure, I sometimes make puns, the previous blog entry is an example of that. Everyone does for a quick smirk. But then again I think it's pretty well established that a pun is the lowest form of joke that you can find. This is why when I see puns in fine arts it is particularly irksome. I was checking out galleries in Chelsea and I ran across this art pun. A fictional drug called Havidol. Apparently the art part of this idea is basically a big 2 foot diameter thing that looks like a pill with an H on it. There is even a website to further beat to death the pun. By taking this fictional drug you can "have-it-all". Oh yuk yuk yuk. What a card! Oh, you're killing me. I'm sure there is more to this art piece than that. Probably some statement about how drugs are becoming part of culture to fix every possible problem etc. Not a particularly original thought either but yeah whatever. Anyway it's the pun that gets me bent out of shape. When art gets reduced to a string of puns it's time to revolutionize art. Are people so devoid of ideas that puns are now high art? I was looking through the current (Feb 2007) NYC gallery guide.
Lets see what other pun art is also featured in this month's guide.
"Conch Scious She Sell" (page 24)
Oh, you're killing me again... conch shells as boobs.... she's selling her big boobs ... she's consciously accentuating it .... oh I'm rolling on the floor.
"Dick Head" (page 54)
Oh, it's a painting of a head with plastic penises glued on. Hmmm.... Subtle.
Maybe it's me but I think that a piece of art created by a person with an advanced art degree, specially featured in a gallery guide and costing thousands of dollars might be a little more sophisicated than a stupid pun.
But then again, what do I know about art and creativity?
1 comment:
Yeah!!!!
There's all kinds of pitfalls with art, the most obvious is that over 90% of artists (regardless of medium) have actually nothing to say. It's even worse when they are trite and trying to be clever at the same time. Oy. If you have nothing to say, that's fine - join the club - perhaps go do something productive (i.e. gain some realistic life experience) and give somebody else the floor for a while.
Nevertheless, while puns are indeed a lowly form of humor - there are those who can spin a brilliant pun - and those people are rare and extra special marvelous. Such puns are usually of the sort that only about 3 out of 100,000 people would have a chance of getting it - but man do they get it.
- Matt
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