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Life is sexually transmitted … and fatal.
Thursday, 07 September 2006
Do you have to be a narcissist asshole to be an artist? Now, obviously, that's not true of all artists, but it sure seems to be true of far too many self described "artists". Whether it's the unabashed, uncompromising narcissistic smugness of George Clooney and the rest of the so-called "Hollywood crowd", or it's a shithead like the one described in the article Taking candy from a baby. [see links below] Reading Ms. Greenberg's comments as quoted in the article, I get a very strong impression that she's (a) completely out of touch with the rest of society, (b) convinced she's the only one who "feels", and, (c) a complete, indignantly self-involved asshole. I was trying to make images that made you feel something, because we are so inundated with images in our culture that oftentimes people don't feel anything.Oh, and (d) actually an unfeeling asshole if the pictures of misery with which "we are so inundated" every day don't make her feel anything, but these stupid "taking candy from babies" stunt photos do. She calls it art. I ask you, what the hell is artistic about taking small children into a photography studio, intentionally antagonizing them by giving them candy and then taking it away, just so you can photograph their anguished expressions? Unlike some overwrought simpletons out there, I don't have any problem with her doing these stunt photos. To equate this sort of thing with child abuse takes an unimaginable lack of perception and scale. From the article it sounds like the parents of these kids are quite satisfied with the pay the kids received. And the parents, obviously, approved of the photos and the technique used to get them. But to call it art? That puts her in the same class of imbecile as that moron that put a crucifix into a jar of piss and called it art. Maybe she's even worse. The crucifix in piss guy only seemed to want his fifteen minutes of fame. This ignoramus seems to think she's making some grand social commentary. The photographer Jill Greenberg intended her images of sobbing babies to be a metaphorical commentary on what she sees as the evils of the Bush administration and the dangerous influence of the evangelical religious right. … I thought it would be interesting to do a series of powerful images that had these political titles.In this case, the only grand commentary being made revolves around the incredible emptiness between her ears. Hey, maybe we've just discovered the only perfect vacuum in the universe! Links
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