The Ancient Greeks (Plato more specifically) established a hierarchy in the arts by elevating the purely contemplative art forms from the lower functional crafts. This idea struck me as I was taking down yet another of my gallery installations and jamming the mere functional remains into a dumpster. I had adopted a belief that artistic expression was a vital bridge spanning the distance between idea and reality, which in turn established the possibility for transfer of both mental insight and physical experience to the viewer …
Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude
This blog published under a Creative Commons license
an ArtsJournal blog
Well, this sort of reminds me of a story about a Big Brass Gong.
Newfie was proudly showing off his new apartment to a couple of his friends late one night.
He led the way to his bedroom where there was a big brass gong and a mallet.
‘What’s with that big brass gong?’ one of the guests asked.
‘It’s not a gong. It’s a talking clock,’ the Newfie replied.
‘A talking clock? Seriously?’ asked his astonished friend.
‘Yup’ replied the Newfie.
‘How’s it work?’ the friend asked, squinting at it.
‘Watch’ the Newfie replied. He picked up the mallet, gave the gong an ear-shattering pound, and stepped back.
The three stood looking at one another for a moment.
Suddenly, someone on the other side of the wall screamed, ‘You asshole! It’s three-fifteen in the morning!’
Haw! Thanks for that. When I saw Kurt Wold’s piece for the first time, the deadpan satire of it made me laugh out loud.