Art (Contemporary and Otherwise)

[Fade to Black]

Damn, Burtynsky is good. Better than Gursky.

[thaiison]

Yes! Someone else who watched it :)

I thought it was a very neat look at some footage of Banksy, Invader and others putting up their work around the world.

At the same time, I've come to find out that the entire "documentary" is potentially a giant hoax or at least half-hoax. Thierry's back story is dubious at best (how does he afford to just travel? His "store" is never really talked about or shown except a warehouse with piles and piles of clothes behind him.) and as a person, he's almost too ridiculous. Not to mention that he's the "cousin" of Invader? Too unlikely.

Folks like Fairey, Banksy and Invader likely wouldn't have really wanted someone like Thierry around nor would they have much incentive to allow him to film. These guys all have people that document their work as they put it up... they wouldn't need or want someone else around that.

Even Theirry's name he gives himself adds evidence to suggest the entire thing is a hoax and Banksy's continued commentary and poking-fun at the art world. Mr. Brainwash. The LA show he puts on is full of photoshopped, almost formulaic work that is derivative of Banksy, Warhol and others. The only hands-on work he does is sprinkle some paint on some posters. The show cost him $$$$ just to put on... where is the money coming from?

Someone online commented that the work is almost Banksy-trying-not-to-be-Banksy. The Banksy piece "I can't believe you morons actually buy this shit" kept coming to mind after I watched the film and accepted it at face value.

Thierry has been curiously absent from the public eye. Was he an actor? Or is he Banksy himself being nutty?

After all these questions were raised, it made the movie all that more intriguing as a piece. The parts showing Banksy's "studio" were also apparently not real according to some people on some discussion boards.

In the end I really enjoyed the film both at face value and almost even moreso after all the reading. He's certainly one of my favorite artists out there

Now those were some interesting points. Haven't really given any thoughts to whether it was a hoax or, well, at all. Considering it's a Banksy movie, it could explain the artists final thoughts about Thierry, how could they all get so mad? Because he went public, I could see why Banksy would be mad because in one's eyes Thierry's work looks a lot like Banksy and it was his final words that convinced him. Maybe it's just the artists way of saying they don't appreciate others who go public the way "thierry" did and in the end as you stated, this could all be made up by Banksy's himself, therefore the documentary maybe shouldn't be taken too seriously.

I'm in a hurry now but those were just some spontaneous thoughts, i'll try to read some and get back to this.

[Carpe Noctem]

Been a big Banksy fan for years now and just watched Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Got to see his work IRL last time I was in Boston. A real pleasure.

Wow. You realize you walked by a free for all, multi million dollar art piece and left it there right? Finding a Banksy today is like winning the lottery in the art world.

[Chinorlz]

haha, yeah I've seen that many folks have ripped large chunks from the walls where originals have been. Pretty involved process. The open market/resale market for the giant "rescued" works is a tricky one though with a lot of debate going on about if they should be sold etc. since they will never be officially authenticated since it would open Banksy up to prosecution under anti-graffiti laws.

These pieces in Boston are in very much open places. My friend and I have joked about paying the restaurant in chinatown to rip out their rear wall with the cancelled dreams piece on it hahaha

[Acéphale]

Bill Fontana
(1947 - )



Pigeon Soundings (2007)



…..”when I first visited this site in 1994 it gave me the feeling that all the pigeons in Cologne lived there”….

The idea for this sound sculpture began in 1994, when St. Kolumba in Cologne was a Gothic ruin inhabited by a large number of pigeons. Deep within the bowels of this place, 2000 years of Cologne’s history lay partly visible in the form of old walls, columns and crypts possessing a strong sense of timelessness. This extraordinary site was framed by the partially destroyed exterior walls of the old church. and a temporary wooden roof in whose rafters the pigeons lived.
In 1994, I made a series of 8 channel sound map recordings of these pigeons, recording the sounds from 8 spatial points simultaneously. The ruin was acoustically transparent, as the ambient sounds of Cologne would seep through the old walls, mixing with the coos and flapping of flying wings.
Today, this becomes a new museum called Kolumba (designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor) which encapsulates the old Gothic ruin with a 12 meter high space of porus walls, above which the floors of the new museum sit.
The sonic memory of these thousands of pigeons will return to the space, invisibly inhabiting it.

[ndependence]

As a hobby photographer, I have learned about and I am still learning about various styles and meaning of images captured on film/sensors but if there is one image that haunts me it would be this one by Paolo Pellegrin. Here is one of his captures of Lebanon villagers fleeing their homes during the conflict of 2006.

[crouka]

[BECOMING-INTENSE]

Twittering Machine(1922) Paul Klee

[Mail-Moth]

Crouka, where does this picture come from exactly ?

[BSR]

Crouka, where does this picture come from exactly ?

it's fuyuko matsui

[snafu]

[Acéphale]

Raoul Hausmann
(1886 – 1971)



Vera Broido
(1930)

[BECOMING-INTENSE]

Harper's Bazaar, June, 1935 Martin Munkácsi

[Acéphale]

Niko Pirosmani
(1862 – 1918)



Still Life With A Sugar Loaf

[crouka]

houitsu sakai

from 1821