Confederate Soldier in image (Page 17): One time at the Milwaukee Museum of Art there was an empty acrylic box setting on a pedestal. I thought the art piece had been removed for some...

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

One time at the Milwaukee Museum of Art there was an empty acrylic box setting on a pedestal. I thought the art piece had been removed for some reason but no, it was called “Nothingness“ and the empty space was the subject.

To tell the truth, I understood the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile parked outside far better than the empty box. And the guys that designed it had far more imagination than the person with the empty box.

Nickaroo

srt101fan wrote:

bbrowner could have been a bit more elegant in his advice to use paragraphs. But he may actually have done you a favor. Long text without paragraph breaks is hard to read.

I only skimmed your post. I didn't read it because it was too hard on the eyes. I'm sure there are others that feel the same way. Please take this in the spirit it was intended - a plea to you and others to make your posts more readable.

Thank You. I do know that I have a tendency to get focused and "Ramble On", no Reference to Led Zeppelin, and my to just keep going.I will work on that.

srt101fan

Nickaroo wrote:

Thank You. I do know that I have a tendency to get focused and "Ramble On", no Reference to Led Zeppelin, and my to just keep going.I will work on that.

Tony G.

bikinkawboy wrote:

One time at the Milwaukee Museum of Art there was an empty acrylic box setting on a pedestal. I thought the art piece had been removed for some reason but no, it was called “Nothingness“ and the empty space was the subject.

To tell the truth, I understood the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile parked outside far better than the empty box. And the guys that designed it had far more imagination than the person with the empty box.

You only see it if you are hungry:>)

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

bikinkawboy wrote:

One time at the Milwaukee Museum of Art there was an empty acrylic box setting on a pedestal. I thought the art piece had been removed for some reason but no, it was called “Nothingness“ and the empty space was the subject.

To tell the truth, I understood the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile parked outside far better than the empty box. And the guys that designed it had far more imagination than the person with the empty box.

For me the problem with a lot of this "empty box" sort of art is that it feels contrived and seems designed to draw attention to the "cleverness" of the perpetrator. Then when you or I make statements such as the ones we just made, then we are told that the problem is that we simply aren't smart enough to appreciate "fine art". Somewhere amongst my stuff, I have a small jar with a screw on lid. The jar has a label reading THOUGHT. It goes on to read that "inside this small container is unadulterated pure thought. Use with caution" My jar is at least an attempt at humor. I guess the photographic equivalent of the "empty box" would be a photograph of air which could be the "first capture of thought". Or perhaps just a frame from a processed roll of unshot film. What should we call this photographic masterpiece? "The person who isn't there" The possibilities seem endless. I am pretty sure about one thing and that is if a photographer were to submit an image of "nothingness" to any sort of photographic forum, be it contest, publication, gallery or any other venue, it would be received with the same appreciation as a "turd in a punchbowl".

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Rodeoman, maybe it’s a Missouri thing, but I thought the point of art such as paintings, music, writing stories-poems, singing and so on was so the originator could present their personal feelings, emotions, wants, desires and imagination to others. I figure art is not a fill in the blank exercise for our own imagination; that’s best left to philosophers, psychologists and theorists.

But maybe my brain lacks that razor sharp edge needed to see what isn’t really there. However, some call such imaginative thinking conspiracies while others simply call a mental institution. I’m happy to settle for a tour of the Wienermobile.

Tony G.

bikinkawboy wrote:

Rodeoman, maybe it’s a Missouri thing, but I thoug... (show quote)

You have decided and that is great. You expressed your belief and are now willing to defend it :>). I wonder if the Wienermobile makes good Hot Dogs that will express a sincere love for them to paraphrase George Benard Shaw.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

No, after Oscar Meyer started adding chicken to the mix, I don’t eat them anymore. I don’t think Shaw, Thoreau, Longfellow, Twain or even Poe could say anything good about them. OM adding chicken would be like someone drawing a mustache on Mona Lisa. They ruined it.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

bikinkawboy wrote:

One time at the Milwaukee Museum of Art there was an empty acrylic box setting on a pedestal. I thought the art piece had been removed for some reason but no, it was called “Nothingness“ and the empty space was the subject.

To tell the truth, I understood the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile parked outside far better than the empty box. And the guys that designed it had far more imagination than the person with the empty box.

Maybe the artist was commissioned to provide work but was out of ideas and so he submitted the empty piece with a clever title to meet the deadline. Whatever the reason this is a case of the emperors new clothes: A situation in which people are afraid to criticize something because everyone else seems to think it is good or important.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

History is of course history. But many statutes are not an objective historical depiction. They are a glorification of a person or ideal as a political statement. I understand why the huge statutes of Lenin and Stalin were tumbled when the communist dictatorship was overthrown. They stood as symbols that glorified an oppressive regime. I can understand why black people would be offended by statutes glorifying those who fought to keep them enslaved. If I were on the hospital committee, I would not display a print that glorified a soldier who fought in a war to preserve slavery.

I am not trying to erase history. In the context of an historical examination of the Civil War, racism in America, or any number of historical discussions, the image would be acceptable. By itself, without any further explanation or discussion, I think the hospital made the right decision not to approve the image for public display, no matter how artful.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

cactuspic wrote:

History is of course history. But many statutes ar... (show quote)

And there is the fact that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

That would also apply to those who erase the records of the past.

Vault Loc: Gig Harbor, WA and Yuma, AZ

I agree. To erase history is to lie to the future.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Vault wrote:

I agree. To erase history is to lie to the future.

Tony G.

"The past is the key to the present" Charles Lyell

Nickaroo

I have read the Posts on this Topic. I would terribly be disappointed to see in the Future where My Son's Death in Afghanistan was taken so Trivial. I hate "Political Views" from those who have never had the loss of a Person who was Fighting the GOOD FIGHT, so we could have a Great History devoted to Our Countries. My Parents escaped the Holocaust to come to the United States, they are not tearing their Past apart, yet we Live in a Country filled with many different views. We are reminded of what went on in those Dark Days of History, yet Our Country wants no History of what happened when the North went and fought against the Confederates to form a Great America. I must be in a Dream. People do not even have a clue when the subject of abolishing Slavery happened or how for that matter. I raised 2 Sons on my Own, since their Mother passed when my Youngest was 2. I lost him in 2005 and my Oldest shortly before. I hate to think that they died with no remembrance.