I have declared war on art!

From: Legume <none@yerbiz.com>
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Jan 24, 2002 3:52 PM

Recently, the site Renderosity.com decided to censor my image "Goddamn
Dirty Nigger" because the title had the "N-Word" and too many people would
get upset, without understanding (or even be willing to understand) the
image and what it meant.

Therefore, in protest, I removed all my troublesome images from their
gallery and replaced them with this series of "safe" and "family-friendly"
images, vowing to give my fellow artfags "the Dr.Legume they so richly
deserve". The first thing I posted was "Magic Pink Pony".

Then something happened I hadn't counted on. A bunch of pro-Legume
supporters rallied and voted the image straight to the top of their "Top 20
of the Week" gallery in protest of the homogenous "topless women with
swords" genre that is so prevalent at the site.

If you really want to check it out for all the details, go to
www.renderosity.com, and check out both my gallery (the comments are
hilarious)and the "Complaint and Debate" forum there.

--
Dr.Legume

"The idea of you dead and horribly mutilated turns me on."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Modemac <modemac@modemac.com>

I notice that Renderosity sells a graphics package on its front page
called "Grand Wizard." Correct me if I'm wrong, but "Grand Wizard" is
also the title of one of the highest ranks in the Ku Klux Klan. So if
they're going to censor you for using "nigger," then shouldn't they
also bend the other way and censor the "Grand Wizard" because it
suggests racism?

--
First Online Church of "Bob"
http://www.modemac.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Col. Sphinx Drummond" <sphinx@subgenius.com>

Legume wrote:

> Recently, the site Renderosity.com decided to censor my image "Goddamn
> Dirty Nigger" because the title had the "N-Word" and too many people would
> get upset, without understanding (or even be willing to understand) the
> image and what it meant.

It'd be one thing if they said something like, they think using "Nigger" in a
title is unoriginal and obviously intended for cheap shock value and they
prefer to have their contributors provide images that are visually provocative
without the need of a shocking title.

If an image is enhanced by a title, it's lacking without one? Probably not but
one has to ask if the image can stand on it's own visual merits it does need a
name? It's certainly more artful with a sensational title. And then there's the
art of manipulation...

They probably wouldn't go for "Goddamn Dirty Jewboy" either, but they'd
probably allow "Goddamn Dirty Christian" as long as the subject wasn't painted
as a nigger.

Do they allow "fuck" in a title?

I found the site but I couldn't find any Legume Gallery. How do I navigate to
the images?

-Col. Sphinx Drummond TWSR
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Legume <none@yerbiz.com>
-

Col. Sphinx Drummond wrote:

> I found the site but I couldn't find any Legume Gallery. How do I
> navigate to the images?

http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Y&Artist=Legume
--
Dr.Legume

"The idea of you dead and horribly mutilated turns me on."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Legume <none@yerbiz.com>

Kevan wrote:

you don't think they sould be promoting the Klan.
>
> Yeah, that's right. Lie about racial issues. Like that isn;t how the
> subject got all fucked up in the first place.

Modemac IS with the NAACP.

--
Dr.Legume

"The idea of you dead and horribly mutilated turns me on."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Legume <none@yerbiz.com>

U.M. Zaporets wrote:

> And where's this "hot20"? Navigation bars should be no greater in
> length than a bratwurst.

http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?Hot=Yes&Sectionid=1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: HellPope Huey <hellpopehuey@subspamgeenyus.com>

In article <3C50BC38.744D762C@subgenius.com>, "Col. says...
>>Legume wrote:
>
>> Recently, the site Renderosity.com decided to censor my image "Goddamn
>> Dirty Nigger" because the title had the "N-Word" and too many people would
>> get upset, without understanding (or even be willing to understand) the
>> image and what it meant.
>{{{{
>They probably wouldn't go for "Goddamn Dirty Jewboy" either, but they'd
>probably allow "Goddamn Dirty Christian" as long as the subject wasn't painted
>as a nigger.
>
>Do they allow "fuck" in a title?

Hey, in 5 more years, they'll be allowing "fuck" on "The Chamber." 'Can you
answer these 10 questions and keep your heart rate down while being blown by
Pink??!!' Mark my woids.

Good points, doktor, but what's the friggin' difference now? Capitalism
co-opted "Art" a LOOONG time ago. All that's generally left are the independent
thrills that creep in around the edges, such as the delish evils of Saint Legume
or people glancing sideways in disgust at my Fraidy "Bob" Tattoo. The only stuff
that hits the mark is guerilla works and the mega-rare gems with only modest,
pop claims to the title to begin with, such as "Invader Zim."

The best art is never marketed, but only seen & enjoyed by you, yer friends or
a limited local exposure. The minute rent-paying money enters the picture, the
smell of warm cheese or Frenchmen rises and clogs the room. Just ask Stang about
the huge mansion he lives in as a result of BotSG sales. The one in the middle
of the frop fields of Dobbstown, where we all ride the monorail to the Xanadu
Cafe for space cakes every morning at 2 p.m.? Yeah, that'un.

The line between crap and real Art is so thin you can roll a photon down it.
And "Bob" straddles that line, yee haw.

Besides, only HIS crotch can handle it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Col. Sphinx Drummond" <sphinx@subgenius.com>

Legume wrote:

> THAT is the TRUE ART I'm trying to create. A living mural of pissed-off
> pinks.

And there is no art more praise worthy or honorable in my mind then that of
pissing off pinks. Baffling, stupefying and dumbfounding pinks, while being
good things and fun to do, can't compare with pissing them off.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: thecompound@ispwest.com (Jillie)

HellPope Huey <hellpopehuey@subspamgeenyus.com> wrote in message news:<a2ql5d0tav@drn.newsguy.com>...

> Good points, doktor, but what's the friggin' difference now? Capitalism
> co-opted "Art" a LOOONG time ago. All that's generally left are the independent
> thrills that creep in around the edges, such as the delish evils of Saint Legume
> or people glancing sideways in disgust at my Fraidy "Bob" Tattoo. The only stuff
> that hits the mark is guerilla works and the mega-rare gems with only modest,
> pop claims to the title to begin with, such as "Invader Zim."
>
> The best art is never marketed, but only seen & enjoyed by you, yer friends or
> a limited local exposure. The minute rent-paying money enters the picture, the
> smell of warm cheese or Frenchmen rises and clogs the room. Just ask Stang about
> the huge mansion he lives in as a result of BotSG sales. The one in the middle
> of the frop fields of Dobbstown, where we all ride the monorail to the Xanadu
> Cafe for space cakes every morning at 2 p.m.? Yeah, that'un.
>
> The line between crap and real Art is so thin you can roll a photon down it.
> And "Bob" straddles that line, yee haw.
>
> Besides, only HIS crotch can handle it.
>
> HellPope Huey, hellpopehuey@subgenius.com
> When a buzzard sits on the fence and stares at you,
> it's time to go to the doctor

I'm up to my gills in the visual arts, I've seen the corporate
marketing(mall galleries, animation art) of artwork, I've seen the
promotion of artists via the gallery system, I've seen
freelancers,I've seen itinerant weekend art fair artists, I've seen
the grant grubbers, and the guerilla self marketers. Let me tell you,
artists who choose to attempt to make a living as an artist sacrifice
a lot for it. Most of them, even some of the most talented ones never
make it.

Mostly because they can't, won't or don't know how to promote their
work enough to get it to 'sell'. Getting it to 'sell' means either
literal sales to people who want to decorate their house or own an
aesthetic object or 'sell' it to government agencies and arts
foundations for grant support of their lifestyle.It's very hard for an
artist to learn the skills they need to do that and THAT, my friend,
is where the stink you mentioned begins. The stink is the tension
between compulsion to just create and the inevitability of keeping a
roof over the your head. I agree completely. That stink will still be
there, probably much stronger, when said artist can't do his art work
and has to mop the floors at the 7-11. The only difference is that the
7-11 isn't an art gallery. (There's another stink. That's the stink of
elitism, but that's another rant.)

In my opinion, there are many artists (musicians, writers,
painters,dancers etc.) that should be able to make a living at just
making art.Culturally,they are very valuable people, and even if what
they do isn't considered 'real work', or a majority of the population
doesn't get it yet, they should be supported.

The successful emerging artists these days are mostly the ones who
have a sort of guerrilla self promotion. They don't wait for pennies
from heaven they just go get it. They spend about half of their
working time on grant writing, finding art consultants to represent
them, updating that web page, organizing shows of their own art, while
schmoozing up to the galleries and museums that they want to get into.

There are also a lot of artists who are using the shock publicity
stunt as an art form. Jeff Koons and Cicciolina, Damian Hirsch with
his cow cut in half, and the guy who did the light switch piece at the
Tate museum fall into that category. It's not really art. It's more of
a sociological manipulation of media, the museums, the galleries, and
the public. (and the act manipulation needed to hire someone to cut a
cow in half and preserve it in a plexiglass display box) It's just a
stunt, an attention getter. Kitsch.

It's a seductive trap. We had an incident at our local museum. One of
the paintings was of breakfast cereal characters in the place of the
apostles in a parody of the Last Supper with Mrs. Butterworth as
Jesus. I decided to send a picture of that piece to the press along
with a sampling of other pieces in the show because I thought it would
be less dry and would bring more families to the museum to see the
exhibit. The newspaper used the picture of "Last Pancake Breakfast"
and we started getting a ton of angry phone calls and a petition from
the congregation of a local catholic church. The director of the
museum sent out a press release that said we were getting flack over
the painting and the media went ballistic. Partly, because it happened
at the same time as the Yo Mama's Last Supper by Rene Cox in New York
that Giuliani got all huffy about.
As much of a media circus as it was, it was VERY beneficial to all of
the artists in the show. The artist of the painting sold a few of his
prints, and postcards, and was interviewed on CNN and seen in every
english speaking country. The editor of the book on Chicago artists
that the show was based on sold tons of books. I had a lot of fun
getting swept into it and getting on t.v. The museum had record
attendence. A guy threatened to shoot us for showing the painting. It
was a minor whitebread scandal that got way out of hand. The whole
thing was an absurd circus. No wonder artists stoop to manipulating
the media and the public to get their name out.

HeadMrs. Salacia the Overseer
Keeper of the Seven Squeals & Director of Programming
Branch Salacians
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Legume <none@yerbiz.com>

SHeyK ABSeNT aLePH 1^4 wrote:

> Mr legume, what is a pink?
> my momma says you are being mean to the peoplem on spingor when yuo
> says that. I cant imagin you are a mean, when you make those nice pony
> picshurs. Cann I come live with oyu and the magic pony?

Sure you can, Timmy. The Magic Pink Pony is really looking forward to you
giving him a big kiss right on his shiny pink head. You can play with him
and kiss him and sit on him and ride him all day long.
--
Dr.Legume

"The idea of you dead and horribly mutilated turns me on."

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Original file name: I have declared war .txt - converted on Tuesday, 22 July 2003, 14:17