Is this art?

[hustlervibes]

I'm working on a term project @ Artcenter and I'd just like a few varied opinions. Any sort of response would be greatly appreciated.

First off.... What is your idea of "ART"?
What limitations are drawn on what is art and what isn't?
Are there any guidelines?
Is it worth public funding from the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts)?



Here are a few examples:





Costa Rican artist Guillermo Habacuc Vargas tethers a starving dog to the corner of his exhibit gallery with dog biscuits just out of reach. The dog remained in the gallery until death, with no water or food to sustain it. His initial statement was that he was doing it in honor of a burgular that had been killed by guard dogs. Following that, he changed his statement so that it was to make people aware of the plight of street dogs in Costa Rica. Here's a video for anyone who might be more interested or want more info.
YouTube - DYING DOG AS ART?!?! Guillermo Vargas Habacuc!!!



Piss Christ is a controversial photograph by American photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition,which is sponsored in part by $15,000 of the tax-payer funded National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects.

[JVD]

I hate people. Frig. Here, let me shit on a plate and sell it as art.

Fuck off.

[luisgonz]

Art will be art as to Crack is crack to Crackheads. Its just weird fix for those loony people.

[allntrlundrgrnd]

grrr



the dog being killed really makes me angry. I saw this a few months ago and cannot believe nobody intervened.


I could care less about the pee-diving jesus pic. except for the "tax-payer funded" part.

[jdm538]

dang if my mom saw that christ piss thing she would ghave a lot to say about it *negatively*

[RiversideS13]

I think Art is something that can break free of people's imagination and emotionally attach to the viewer somehow. but the boundary is ETHIC.

for example, the "Body world expo" used bodies from China that were prisoners, that is not cool and many school was boycotting the expo. i think when an art become disturbing to other people, that becomes a nasty pollution. like street graffiti, it is cool because it take talent to make; but when it cost us million of dollars to remove, that could become an headache.

i dont know if my statements makes sense.... i am damn tire ...zzz

[BustedS13]

i knew it was going to be the dog thing. snopes has yet to confirm or deny it, but chances are the dog didn't die.

snopes.com: Guillermo Vargas: Dog Starved for Art Exhibit

and Piss Christ is art. Andres Serrano does some great stuff. you may recognize some of his other works:

"Blood and Semen III"


"Piss and Blood"

[Pank]

I cant find the article now, but there was an artist who went on stage and shit out an ear of corn.

I know that looks ridiculous, but i swear to god its real. i promise

[Vision Garage]

Kill that guy for starving a dog. Its not art. Its torture. Peta should kick his ass. and the guy who put jesus in piss should get his ass kicked to.

[Agamemnon]

$15,000 just to take a picture of a $1 crucifix soaked in piss! Gov't got hustled!

[DreamN]

I don't consider either art. The dog actually died! WTF? When and how is starving any living being to the point of death art? How sad that they're letting this happen again. I signed the petition and I hope others do as well.

[Pank]

also "is this art?" is the most pointless question ever.
Yes its art, and yes, its horrible.
Just because something is disgusting or cruel or ugly, doesn't mean its not art.

[memo92]

I hate that I share the same first name with Guillermo. I don't think this piece to bring attention to the plight of Costa Rican dogs is good. Some body should have called in Ceasar Millan. Why don't costa ricans take care of their canine problems themselves. Americans care about dogs, as it was proven with the conviction of Micheal Vick for funding dog fights. All this artist wants is to get notariety by doing something contraversial. In my opinion putting this instalment in a gallery is done in poor taste. I can't believe it was allowed.
As for the crusafix it could have been done another way, but it seems that all these artist want to do is shock people.

[Mr. Camshaft]

Originally Posted by Pank

I cant find the article now, but there was an artist who went on stage and shit out an ear of corn.

I know that looks ridiculous, but i swear to god its real. i promise

i wanna see

[GabeS14]

I thought the PISSED OFF CHRIST, looks awesome!
it is actually veery nice, I dont need to know what made the art to know what reaction it causes me.

I am sure anyone who criticized it after knowing it was dipped in pee, would have said it looked cool if they had been presented it in a different manner.

I am not an athiest, but church stuff and morals are fucking bullshit!
now the dog thing just makes me sad, I hate abuse of any kind!

[mRclARK1]

If I saw that dog and his exhibit of that?

Dog would be free and eating and recovering.

He'd be tied in the corner with food just out of reach. I don't care if the dog died or not.

Fuck these people who get away with anything with the excuse it's "art"

So why isn't murder just an "art" form? Or rape? Or child porn? When? Why not? By this logic nothing is wrong under the guise of it's a form of entertainment or display.

What if that was an image of Mohammed in the tank of piss?

Exactly

[S14Josh]

I dislike "Artsy" things.

Not to be confused with true artistic work. Take M. C. Escher for instance. Guy was AMAZING.

I mean artsy things as in, a video of a girl in a bathtub with a single bird feather landing at her feet.

I had to sit through one of those fucking films in school and I asked the most relevant question I could. "What the hell does that even mean?" The fellow student replied "Obviously you don't know art". I said "Obviously you don't either"

What about that video of that dude who drowned himself in the bathtub that was floating around the web for a while? He said his inspiration was some guy shooting his arm off with a 12-gauge shotgun....

Wtf?

I did think the Jesus thing was pretty neat however.

And I laughed really fucking loud when I read the post about shitting the ear of corn on stage.

[murda-c]

why not just go around shooting all the dogs?

problem solved.

Or get them with a spear.

[ericcastro]

These people arent artist. There jokes and would never be noticed for there talent. So these kinds of absurd things are the only way to get any validation.

But they are just hacks. and they just convince other hacks that they are talented.

Morons.

[exitspeed]

I would like to do that to him and see if he thinks it's art.

[HyperLeafBlower]

Anything can be "art" if you take it and present it in such a way. Not that I agree with either of the pieces posted, but whether or not something is art is up to the artist.

[98s14inaz]

Stuff like the examples you gave are not art imho. Artists tread a fine line between genius and insanity. I believe artists that create stuff like your examples are way the fuck over the insanity line and should be heavily medicated and kept away from sharp objects.

Hurting animals and defacing religious symbols is wrong. If I dressed someone up like Mohamed, pushed them to the floor, and took a dump on his chest i'd get burned at the stake but take a piss on a statue of Jesus Christ and it's "genius".

I'd never fit into that artsy fartsy crowd because if something sucks I'm going to tell you about it. That stuff sucks. I'd like to take the artist that did that to the dog and do the same to him. "Look everyone, it's a starving aritst tied in a room, behold my genius." lol

[k's_silvia2.0]

My GF is Costa Rican hahaha!
But in all seriousness this to me is very distasteful!!!

[tracks13]

I'll take a dump for you that you can photograph if you pay me one million dollars

[LeftNutOfGowd]

That,s not art art is something you create using your hands or mind not taking pics of dieing animals or people that's shits pathetic

[shade]

I've heard the dog one a while back, fuckin bitch ass artist needs to fuckin die. Someone should tie him up and leave him to starve to death, asshole.

[shmiddy]

with dog biscuits just out of reach

thats fucked up

art or no art

[Dutchmalmiss]

As repulsive as it looks, there's always two sides to a story. Whatever the hell the guy went through to have the mental drive to consider starving a dog being art is pretty damn fucked up. But you know what, I bet it'll be hard to convince those who support it otherwise. I'm very sure 9/11 was a "masterpiece" to some people.

[exitspeed]

Originally Posted by Dutchmalmiss

As repulsive as it looks, there's always two sides to a story. Whatever the hell the guy went through to have the mental drive to consider starving a dog being art is pretty damn fucked up. But you know what, I bet it'll be hard to convince those who support it otherwise. I'm very sure 9/11 was a "masterpiece" to some people.

Maybe, but that still doesn't make it right.

With that kind of mentality, me walking up to his mom and shooting her in teh face point blank would be beautiful.

That doesn't mean it isn't any less tragic.

[DALAZ_68]

Originally Posted by Vision Garage

Kill that guy for starving a dog. Its not art. Its torture. Peta should kick his ass. and the guy who put jesus in piss should get his ass kicked to.

Peta is a radical group of idiots...i believe in anmal right, but there should be a limit...


LINK PETA-BULLSHIT



i like how everybody on the net is jumping to say ohh i would have done something or said something, when in reality realuize its the fucken NET...u can say anything here and it doesnt really mean shit unless u actually do it...

do i feel bad for the pup, yes, but hey guess what, hundreds if not thousands of dogs die everyday on the side of the street, what about thoughts and prayers forthem, ohh wait, u didnt know about them, but u know it happens, only reason this is contreversy is because this guy decided to put it in the middle of an exibit and call it art...as fucked up as it sounds, art is left to interpretation, do i personally consider blood and jizsm art? not really, a dog tied down inches from food left to starve? nah... all is left to interpretation