Why is Pollack's art considered 'schizophrenic' compared to Kandinsky's?

  • Thread starter hypnagogue
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Art Thread
In summary: It doesn't always require 'comprehension' or 'understanding', which may be a problem for some people. It can be a little too difficult, at times, for the casual viewer.In summary, the sculpture was donated by an anonymous person and was supposed to be displayed in Peoples Park, but it was eventually moved to its current location. It is an ugly, psychedelic painted triangle. It is not well constructed and is a problem for the students living near it.
  • #1
hypnagogue
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
2,285
2
was deleted?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
Yes, I think that thread got off to a bad start and went downhill. I pm'd zooby that he can start another similar thread if he'd like. I think that one was a lost cause.

I can import posts from the deleted thread into the new one, if you'd like your posts moved. As a matter of fact you can start the thread if you'd like.
 
Last edited:
  • #3
Evo said:
Yes, I think that thread got off to a bad start and went downhill.
I posted in it quite recently, did the deletion have anything to do with my post? Was it offensive or indecipherable, both?
 
  • #4
fi said:
I posted in it quite recently, did the deletion have anything to do with my post? Was it offensive or indecipherable, both?
Not at all. After several attempts to get it back on track, it kept going downhill.
 
  • #5
ok, thanks. Sorry about the thread, it was interesting.
 
  • #6
Evo is right. It was stupid. Fun, but stupid. It should have just been locked though, not deleted.
 
  • #7
I wondered what happened to it--I think that was one of the last ones before the 'flu', etc. Hmmmm---how far did it derail?
 
  • #8
Enough.
 
  • #9
even for GD?----

my, my, MY
 
  • #10
I drove past this the other day, turns out the taxpayers paid $100,000.00 for this hideous monstrosity to be erected on a street corner. The picture is poor quality and you can't tell how poorly constructed this mess is, rivets and weld marks showing. It's huge, hideous, an abomination, but that's just my opinion. :eek: I'm embarrassed of it. Up close, it looks like someone banged out a bunch of old car hoods, spray painted them bright blue then welded them together.
 

Attachments

  • hideous monstrosity.jpg
    hideous monstrosity.jpg
    10.4 KB · Views: 430
Last edited:
  • #11
it looks like a type of cactus


DID YOU FIND YOUR /(his) CAMERA?!
 
Last edited:
  • #12
Evo said:
I drove past this the other day, turns out the taxpayers paid $100,000.00 for this hideous monstrosity to be erected on a street corner. The picture is poor quality and you can't tell how poorly constructed this mess is, rivets and weld marks showing. It's huge, hideous, an abomination, but that's just my opinion. :eek: I'm embarrassed of it. Up close, it looks like someone banged out a bunch of old car hoods, spray painted them bright blue then welded them together.

Years ago, after demolishing the WWII era Quonset hut that had served as the Admin building. Oregon State U was in the process of turning the opened up land into a parking lot. Student protest (Did I say this was '71? ) Saved a nice plot which became known as The Peoples Park. When I got there in '74, it was a small but nicely groomed park with just enough trees to provide some solitude from the adjacent busy walkways. The fact that this quiet little park was right across the street from the Physics Dept meant that over the years it was one of my favorite lunch on a sunny day spots.

Well about '77 or '78 someone donated a absolutely hideous psychedelic painted right triangle about 6' x 10' (just approximate guys pick some numbers in that range that work!) Seems that there is a law somewhere saying that if someone donates a sculpture to the University, the University MUST display it. Well, since no one that mattered wanted anything to do with the sculpture, it got parked in that quite secluded corner of campus called Peoples Park. I had to share my meditation grove with this monstrosity until I left OSU in 1988.

As an update the whole area has become a huge student residence building. My park is gone. Sorry no pics.
 
Last edited:
  • #13
You guys better stay away from the hirshhorn in dc then!

http://www.trolleytours.com/Washington-DC/images/hirshhorn-washington-dc.jpg

I like that blue cactus. I don't know the context of it next to the surrounding space though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #14
Cyrus said:
You guys better stay away from the hirshhorn in dc then!

http://www.trolleytours.com/Washington-DC/images/hirshhorn-washington-dc.jpg

I like that blue cactus. I don't know the context of it next to the surrounding space though.

I don't mind the blue cactus thing either (I think I'm finding out recently that Cyrus and I have similar taste in sculptures). I'm sure the hirshhorn thing will be very nice once they finish building it too. :uhh: :biggrin: (It looks like a pile of steel beams waiting to be assembled into a building.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #15
The more someone gets 'into' art, the more 'popular' forms (realism, for example) may become more common and less interesting. 'New' or different becomes more interesting--the one problem there, I see, is that sometimes, 'new'/'different' can be sometimes over hyped and given more attention/over-praised for its peculiarity rather than its importance/beauty.

Realism is generally accepted by many due to the basic idea that it is 'recognizable'--a painting of a cow doesn't require much thought. Pollack's work was a step in the progression that had been going on for a while, and was (and is) accepted as that 'next' step in that specific area of the 'the artistic expression'.
 
Last edited:
  • #16
It's not a cactus, it's a "dance". :uhh: That's a picture before they landscaped around it. I'll see if I can find my camera and get a better picture of it.

And the picture makes it look a LOT better than it looks in person.
 
  • #18
It looks more like a prickly pear cactus than a duck---but a name is a name is a name. --dance is a nice name---better than 'NUCLEAR HOLOCOST'
 
  • #19
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #20
Well, the sculptor who built the stainless-steel "whirligig" for Waterville put over 1600 hours into the project, and assuming he's not working for peanuts, that is one expensive monstrosity. I don't know how much they paid for it, but it was too much. U.G.L.Y.
 
  • #21
There's a law here in Illinois that 1% of the cost of any new state government building has to be devoted to the 'arts' in/around/for that building-----

maybe there's an underground government office under that sculpture...

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

has this thread 'mellowed' enough to be put in GD?
 
Last edited:
  • #22
turbo-1 said:
Well, the sculptor who built the stainless-steel "whirligig" for Waterville put over 1600 hours into the project, and assuming he's not working for peanuts, that is one expensive monstrosity. I don't know how much they paid for it, but it was too much. U.G.L.Y.

It looks like some sort of giant ray gun from a 1960s era sci fi flick (or something Marvin the Martian would use). :rofl:

Those giant sculptures really aren't meant to be studied up close, but to just add some interest to an otherwise empty space. I don't know about "Dance" but I really think it looks more like a cactus...I like it. Then again, I liked the blue trees someone posted in the ugly campus thread. Maybe it's just blue sculpture I like.
 
  • #23
As part owner of the blue dancing cactus, I will allow you to take it away. It's the size of a small building, weighs 12,000 lbs and is an eyesore at what would otherwise be a very pleasant intersection. People here HATE it.
 
  • #24
Most people around here hate the whirligig, too, especially the delivery truck drivers who have to navigate that convoluted parking lot where it is installed.

In the town that we last resided, we had the world's largest wooden Indian. It's bug-ugly, but at least it's somewhat representative of the history of the area. The fishing net and spear are appropriate because fishing at the waterfall (now occupied by a hydro dam) was a handy way to get food.

http://www.wlra.us/wl/wlwoodenindian.htm
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #25
Evo said:
As part owner of the blue dancing cactus, I will allow you to take it away. It's the size of a small building, weighs 12,000 lbs and is an eyesore at what would otherwise be a very pleasant intersection. People here HATE it.

yeah--but, if it was gone--people wouldn't stop and take photos of it, or of them standing in front of it, or know where to meet ("let's meet at the big cactus!")-----I wouldn't doubt that people have gotten married in front of it--
 
  • #26
rewebster said:
yeah--but, if it was gone--people wouldn't stop and take photos of it, or of them standing in front of it, or know where to meet ("let's meet at the big cactus!")-----I wouldn't doubt that people have gotten married in front of it--
:rofl: I don't think anything like that has happened. I could only find an obscure reference to it online, it appears none of the local papers even chose to mention it. I think everyone just wants to ignore it and hope it goes away soon.
 
  • #27
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #28
fi said:
I kind of like the cactus dance, too.
This is one of the funnier roadside sculptures I've seen, although the chicken produced here is certainly worthy of celebrating. I wonder if people meet or marry by this.
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9484/dsc00401il6.th.jpg

What does that road sign with the arrows going in a circle mean?

I think the problem with the blue dancing cactus is just location. It would look better in front of a nice, modern building, not dumped in an abandoned lot surrounded by low scrub...that's probably why it seems so much like a cactus...everything around it is barren. I think that where a large outdoor sculpture is placed really impacts the overall appearance of it, and can be more important than just what the sculpture looks like when standing alone.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #29
The sculpture looks like a Jackson Pollack-inspired oil well pump. Very appropriate for Texas! I wouldn't mind having that in my front yard!
 
  • #30
Moonbear said:
What does that road sign with the arrows going in a circle mean?

It is a roundabout in France. I'm pleased they remind me which way to go, because I am more used to driving on the other side of the road, and going the other way on roundabouts!
 
  • #31
fi said:
I kind of like the cactus dance, too.
This is one of the funnier roadside sculptures I've seen, although the chicken produced here is certainly worthy of celebrating. I wonder if people meet or marry by this.
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9484/dsc00401il6.th.jpg
I love the chicken! I'll trade you the chicken for the blue abomination.

Yeah Moonbear, the blue mess would be appropriate in a children's play park, not on a street corner.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #32
Evo said:
I love the chicken! I'll trade you the chicken for the blue abomination.

I'm very fond of that chicken too, but would happily swap for your blue abomination. Sadly, it would not be up to me. Perhaps you could take this up with the citizens of Bresse.
 
  • #33
Evo said:
I love the chicken! I'll trade you the chicken for the blue abomination.

Yeah Moonbear, the blue mess would be appropriate in a children's play park, not on a street corner.

Maybe you could combine the two and have a Chicken Dance. <ba dum bum...groan>
 
  • #34
Moonbear said:
Maybe you could combine the two and have a Chicken Dance. <ba dum bum...groan>
Alas, I have no equally witty reply to that:smile:, but my inspiration may be stiffled by my inability to see how the title 'dance' relates to the blue cactus.

rewebster said:
The more someone gets 'into' art, the more 'popular' forms (realism, for example) may become more common and less interesting. 'New' or different becomes more interesting--the one problem there, I see, is that sometimes, 'new'/'different' can be sometimes over hyped and given more attention/over-praised for its peculiarity rather than its importance/beauty.

Realism is generally accepted by many due to the basic idea that it is 'recognizable'--a painting of a cow doesn't require much thought. Pollack's work was a step in the progression that had been going on for a while, and was (and is) accepted as that 'next' step in that specific area of the 'the artistic expression'.


Yes, I think Pollack’s art is accepted as the ‘next’ step in this area, a continuation of surrealist ideas regarding unconsciousness, combined with Native American influences, etc., to create visual art while painting in a trance-like state.

And, speaking of ‘dance’, I find Pollack’s works interesting in another way, too- a continuation against Kantian autonomous ideals, in that the creative act itself is highlighted and has been spoken of as a trance-like dance, distinguished from the painting itself. Whereas Kandinsky had attempted to paint music, (and the blue abomination is entitled 'dance') the large canvas on the ground enabled this trance-like dance with paints that is (semiotically interestingly) diagrammatised by the more secondary visual art.
 
  • #35
Actully the blue thing "represents" a dance, the title of the sculpture is "shim, sham, shimmy", it's not by Pollock, it's by some guy in Texas.
 

Similar threads

Replies
2
Views
2K
  • General Discussion
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • General Discussion
4
Replies
116
Views
32K
Replies
2
Views
353
Replies
15
Views
4K
  • Feedback and Announcements
Replies
10
Views
1K
  • Electrical Engineering
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • Special and General Relativity
Replies
24
Views
1K
  • Engineering and Comp Sci Homework Help
Replies
4
Views
778
Replies
1
Views
962
Back
Top