Publicly Funded Modern 'Art'
Support Education in the Arts Instead of Worthless Stuff
After a few moments of staring at this thing, I grinned and said, "Wow! It's speaking to me!"
"What's it saying?" she asked excitedly.
"It's saying, 'Help me! I'm a metal pile of crap!'"
She didn't laugh.
But really, what are they thinking at the National Endowment for the Arts? They support publicly funded creations that back ends of cows can create. And although I'm not a modern art expert, I do know about cow leavings. Having worked in a dairy farm I know more about manure than anyone would want to. And seeing hundreds of millions of dollars spent on essentially the same thing is puzzling. If what the NEA finances truly is art, then I fertilized acres of farmland with modern art publicly funded by cows
But this isn't what bothers me, as troubling as it is. What's upsetting is that for decades we have been downsizing art education in our schools. Many districts have removed whole arts departments while publicly funded modern art continues to publicly poop in cities across America.
If the NEA chooses to keep the equivalent of dookie publicly funded, that's ok. But it should not be funded ahead of education in the arts. First teach our children how to use the tools of art and how to express themselves through different mediums. Or at worst arts education can be publicly funded equally with the metal crap piles. At least be fair.
Published by Darren Koobs
Darren has been employed for several years in a major national grocery chain and is currently a service department assistant manager. His education includes two years of theology (with a focus on Biblical g... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentThanks for allowing me to include this article in My Pet Peeves. It's now there, proudly highlighting the grievance that many of us feel about the amount of public money that is thrown away frivously each year on what some call "art".
I would love to add this article as a section on my Squidoo lens My Pet Peeves (http://www.squidoo.com/my_pet_peeves) with your permission, with links back to the original article and your profile of course. It would fit in there perfectly I think, and also give you more exposure.
I definitely agree with you Darren. A lot of modern art makes me wish I just had a few hours to throw paint on a blank canvas, or instead of throwing the week's recycling in the bin, present it as a work of art and become rich and famous. Sometimes I think Art should be spelled with a capital F.
Agree about the funding aspect. Also agree that it is pretty hard to admire a lot of what is called "art" in museums or elsewhere around the globe. rcj
I love art but I agree that it is all in the eye of the beholder as to whether it is art, or crap.lol
Regardless of whether the NEA funds art or crap, it is an un-Constitutional organization. Nowhere in the Constitution did we grant the Federal Government the power to take our money (with threat of violence, bodily harm, and incarceration if we resist) and spend it on art. Or crap.
Well said. Sometimes I think those "artists" are just laughing at us all the way to the bank.
:)
I understand art is in the eye of the beholder, but the NEA shouldn't be determining what is or isn't art. Rather than financing specific things that way beyond avante garde and go into the realm of morally indecent, they should be picking exceptional art institutions who are educating children/adults in an impartial development of how to do art. I used my opinion of lots of modern art being cow dung to add a personal, and ranting, tone.
Oh Darren... Darren, Darren, Darren. First, thanks for the plug for art education in the schools! Second, a lot of public sculpture really is crappy (I hate huge abstract metal sculptures). However, third - just because you don't like something, doesn't mean it isn't art! :) You should check out "What is Art? Modern Art Theories": http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2712839/what_is_art_modern_art_theories_for.html?cat=4
"Art" is in the eye of the beholder... or nose, ear or throat.... and, as always, when taste differs from our own, there is simply no accounting for it!