Wim Delvoye: World’s Most Badass Artist

1. Sweet Violet
   September 15th, 2008 at 4:22 am

   Gross!

2. Jane
   September 15th, 2008 at 4:23 am

   This is not art. This is talentless, pretentious crap

3. Renacier
   September 15th, 2008 at 6:12 am

   American art has produced nothing good after the 1950’s, and this jackass is Exhibit A.

4. ted
   September 15th, 2008 at 6:35 am

   How is a Belgian creating American art?

5. Algonkin
   September 15th, 2008 at 6:40 am

   Just what planet earth needs…more excrement. With 6.5 billion humans on this planet, do we really need to understand how poop is created? I think we figured that out eons ago.

6. TwoDragons
   September 15th, 2008 at 6:52 am

   This guy has some definite issues.

   About the only fascinating exhibit in the whole bunch is the heavy machinery. Trying to explain everything else to my just-shy-of-6-year-old-son who is sitting on my lap…um…took a lot of creativity for such an early hour.

   –TwoDragons

7. Leah
   September 15th, 2008 at 7:29 am

   How in the hell did he manage to produce that lipstick print of his arsehole without crinkling the paper? He must have the flattest arse cheeks in the whole of mankind. I may be over thinking the logistics, but shouldn’t he have had to smoosh the paper between his cheeks in order to get the print? There should be crinkles in the paper! If that’s not a sign of pure genius then I don’t know what is.

8. espy
   September 15th, 2008 at 7:48 am

   You know, I didn’t have a problem with any of this until I saw the tattooed pigs. That’s where he lost me.

   Those poor creatures. ANd he calls himself a vegetarian–I assume animal rights are meant to be important to him, but he’s not respecting the pigs. Tattooing is painful and possibly causes health problems.

   As for his shit-obsession…yeah, he’s stuck in stage 1 or 2, isn’t he? Grow up, asshole.

9. Hey!
   September 15th, 2008 at 8:30 am

   Those pigs were the work of Chilean artist Cheto Castellano. I know him personally and he pioneered the project. Wim might have been working under him — they tatooed hundreds of pigs, so a lot of people had to be trained — but the work isn’t his.

10. cuimhne
    September 15th, 2008 at 9:07 am

    @Hey!

    The only source I can find listing Cheto Castellano lists him as working under Delvoye with two other artists…can you send me a link where I can read about Castellano’s work? I’m interested to read more…thanks!

11. just a guy
    September 15th, 2008 at 9:15 am

    I usually like avante garde stuff, but this guy has an obsession with crap and butts. Stating that poop was art and seeing if they could get away with it (they did) was done in the dadaist movement, to death. Its not original anymore, if it even had THAT going for it. Stop with the fecolphelia!

12. Scot
    September 15th, 2008 at 9:41 am

    What a fool

13. ted
    September 15th, 2008 at 10:06 am

    For the record, it’s “caprophilia”.

14. Hey!
    September 15th, 2008 at 10:28 am

    He has a book out but it’s not printed in the US yet. I’m not sure where you can find his work. I know he showed in Canada recently.

15. Zav
    September 15th, 2008 at 11:06 am

    Someone please tell me why this is badass.

16. Thomas
    September 15th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    I thought it was neat.

17. Moxymombo
    September 15th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    >Someone please tell me why this is badass.

    Because he’s taking the limits and, quite literally, shitting all over them. Not only is he making art out of shit, he’s making art out of shit that comes out of a simulated digestive system, which takes guts and brains.

18. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    September 15th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    He’s obsessed with poop. So what? Five-year-old boys are obsessed with poop. That doesn’t make them “artists”.

    And I question why he would call himself a vegetarian and then cause suffering to pigs by tattooing them. Ouch.

    The Gothic laser-cut heavy machinery sculptures are about the only thing that’s neat here. The rest of it I could do myself… if I was obsessed with crap and had questionable morals and a huge ego.

19. twopeak
    September 15th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    He also tatood a human. The buyer gets the skin when the guy dies.
    And then there’s the cool church-windows made by xrays of people!

    I love this guy!

20. Christophe
    September 15th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    yesterday I stepped in cat poop. maybe it’s art. I’m going to put the shoe on my office desk. definitly.

21. rintrah
    September 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    I used to help curate at a museum, and I often had to do write-ups of artists like this guy. Believe it or not, but the “poop” concept has been explored before. Italian artist, Piero Manzoni ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piero_Manzoni ) did a piece (or rather many “pieces”) called “Merda d’Artista” or “Artist’s Shit.” More recently, American conceptual artist Tom Friedman ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Friedman_(artist) ) has a “self-portrait” that consists of his own feces rolled into a perfectly smooth, spherical ball (a feat he’s done with bubble gum as well, and he has an extensive resume when it comes to working in human pubic hair.)

    Personally, I have to share others’ distaste for this kind of conceptual art. Not because of a particular aversion to feces or because necessarily even because of the Freudian implications. It just…. gosh, guys, we get it, alright? Modern art is a farce. Duly noted, now pull up your pants please. Now can someone kindly do something worth making?

    I’m reminded of a quote by an old art teacher of mine. He was talking about vomiting, but it applies equally to defecation:

    “Vomiting is one of the lowest forms of creation in everyday life. You ARE creating something, but nobody wants it.”

22. Ashley
    September 15th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    @ted, for being an insufferable know-it-all: “caprophilia” would be love of goats, though the word technically doesn’t exist. I believe coprophilia would be love of poo, but I’m afraid to google it for obvious reasons.

23. Alex G
    September 15th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    About the pigs, it goes beyond the pigs. He transformed a chinese community from farming many pigs and killing them young for meat and little profit, to raising a few pigs and killing them old for huge profits. The drawings tatooed on the pigs’ back enables this transformation, and it’s that transformation that he sees as art.

    About the shit machine, as he said pretty clearly, it’s about creating something overly complex and totally useless while proving that was the actual intent. And then actually giving value to the shit and selling it in vacuum pack. Something you would have a hard time doing with your own shit. The conceptual idea of a “shit machine” that produces a sellable product is actually a valid comment about current society - think of all the useless crap that gets produced and sold and disposed of everyday.

    And the salami floor, well that’s just pure genius!

24. Simon
    September 15th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    When I first saw “Mosaic”, I thought, “What a pretty design.” A split second later I was like, “O GADDAMN THAT’S F*KIN TURD!!” o.O !!!!

25. Buzz
    September 15th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    “He said that the pigs have better, longer lives than those raised for food”

    Always good to see irrational behavior justified using logical fallacies.

26. Church
    September 15th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    C.F. Cat Rambo’s “Magnificent Pigs”
    http://podcastle.org/2008/07/15/pc016-magnificent-pigs/

27. Ola Amigo
    September 15th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    Great. Another pretentious, dingbat, got nothing to say ‘artist’. BTW dude, Andy Warhol and various other dipshits did the whole shtick years ago. All you’re doing is reminding people why they don’t check out ‘art’ anymore.

    Actually, thanks for reminding me.

28. cuimhne
    September 15th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    I’m surprised so many of you have such distaste for modern art. I feel his point is still valid, even if it has been explored by others.

29. Moodindigo
    September 16th, 2008 at 3:12 am

    Agree with Cuimhne. Why do people get so up-in-arms about art which they either don’t understand or, more likely simply don’t like? It sounds like the Daily Mail in here. Do these people level the same volume of protest at Opera? Or the latest Eddie Murphy movie? Why not simply vote with your feet and not go to the gallery?

    Mind you, I guess maybe the stark contrast between appreciation and vitriol displayed in peoples’ reactions is what makes it great art. Maybe indifference is the contrast.

    A friend of a friend used to keep a record of every girl he slept with by taking an imprint of their anuses. He used paper napkins and India ink and collated them in ring binders. He called it his collection of “miffy squeaks”. Not sure whether he gathered their permission first or not. Maybe that distinction is where the art lies.

30. Art Carney
    September 16th, 2008 at 4:15 am

    Those who can’t dance say the ground is too full of stones.

31. ruby
    September 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am

    I work HOURS and DAYS to create realistic illustrations that go to print. THIS is posted as art? He may be making an illusion to the fact that his “creations” are sh*t.

    This is the reason I do not frequent art houses or museums or callaborate with these pretentious butt heads.

32. ted
    September 16th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    You’re right, Ashley. It is coprophilia. Where was my mind? I actually remembered that after I pressed “Submit”, but thought nobody else would be as anal as I would be about it, so I let it go.

    I know I’m a know-it-all, but am I really insufferable? I didn’t know that…

33. Matt
    September 16th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    This is not art. It’s somebody with a damn screw loose.
    The lipstick was even worse! Neatorama, please don’t post this kind of…crap.

34. Toadstool
    September 16th, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    Concurred, as far as conceptual art is concerned, his concept is quite shitty.

    To Moodindigo: “creepy” does not begin to describe that “friend of a friend”. There’s a reason some people are classified as mentally disturbed.

35. Jill
    September 16th, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    The laser etched things are fantastic. The comment above about how the crap machine is a very valid statement about modern America is absolutely true. So you don’t like his art. Does that mean no one else should discuss it?
    There were people who didn’t like Picasso’s art, that doesn’t mean there was any validation in their critiquing it. I’m not saying he is a modern Picasso by any stretch of the imagination. But I am saying that if you don’t like something, you don’t need to sit there and waste your breath bitching about it. Instead, go find something you like instead.
    Thanks for this post Neatorama.
    I personally think he should have used REAL salami on the floor, because I think using images of it is a cop-out, but that’s my only critique.

36. Joel R. van Lennep
    September 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    Waarlijk uitnemende konst! Hoe bevredigend, hoe lekker! JvL

37. vegangrrrl
    September 17th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    tattooing pigs
    and justifying it because it’s better
    than being raised for food
    is assholery.
    his being a vegetarian
    only begins to compensate
    but it’d be better
    if he respected animals
    and tattooed himself
    and others who can agree to it.

38. mystic paradise
    September 17th, 2008 at 11:19 pm

    you can see information about cheto castellano on
    http://www.myspace.com/chetocastellano,
    or google him.

    you will see from his posted photos that he actually came up with a project to tattoo people, buying their skins through contract way before wim’s new project of “tattooing” a human skin..you will also notice that castellano is not only a tattoo artist, but a contemporary artist…

    cheto stopped working on the art farm with the pigs because the pigs ended up being just one more collectible piece instead of being saved from the slaughterhouse as delvoye always claims in his interviews.

    the most beautiful pigs were done by cheto…wim knows that, anyone who looks at his portfolio will know that.

39. kayla
    September 25th, 2008 at 12:45 am

    i can not believe that anyone would consider this art because it is nothing but a crazy guy that only thinks he is a great “artist”. im sorry but jill you are wrong. if you consider this art then you need a reality check. real art takes hours to complete and takes something called talent. otherwise any idiot on the street could be an “artist”. besides there is a way to make an eccentric statement without playing in your own shit. yes other artists have did this before but are they famous only for their poo pics, no they are not, because they actually created other non-fecal art work that had to take some kind of talent to create.

40. oh_really?
    September 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am

    this cheto guy tattooed hundreds of pigs? in an interview regarding his CHANEL project, this delvoye guy said he tattooed about 50 pigs a year if i am not mistaken. and cheto left because “the pigs ended up being just one more collectible piece instead of being saved from the slaughterhouse as delvoye always claims in his interviews.” oh really? tattooing hundreds of pigs would at least take him 3 years. if the pigs get slaughtered every year, he must be pretty much retarded to figure it all out after at least 3 years.

41. David G
    October 19th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    kayla: Jill is actually totally right. I don’t see how anyone can say she’s wrong! her comment was that of someone who undertstands modern art.

    kayla, great art requires hours to complete and what you call talent, you say?

    not since the beginning of the 20th century, i’m afraid!

    Nowadays, art is more than pretty landscapes and portrait (in case you didn’t realize already) and no, not every idiot on the street can become an “artist”.

    That’s why a drunken hobo pissing in a street corner isn’t an artist, but Warhol’s piss art(a series of “paintings” if you want to put it that way in which he had handsome young men urinate on canvases, or in the case of the Oxidation series, specially prepared metal plates) is actually art.

    There’s a few things at work there called intent and poetry. something devoyed of meaning isn’t art. And if something is pretty, or took a long time or much talent to make, it doesn’t mean it’s art.

    A painting by numbers of a cat playing with a pink yarn ball could be considered art. but you won’t see this in any museum, because it’s almost meaningless. it’s just meant to be nice to look at.

    And why do you think shit isn’t a good way to make a statement? oil paints are better, you think? Colored pigment particles in suspension in oil and in a binder. Great for putting color and texture, there’s no doubt about it. But feces add another dimension to a work of art. An artist that work with his own feces is creating a work of art with something his body has rejected after absorbing everything it needed to live. it’s much more poetic!

    And you guys must admit that it made you all react. it made you think. most of you didn’t think much farther than the first thing that crossed your mind, though, which is rather unfortunate. to those who took time to try to understand what the artist meant, thank you! you’re not the ones polluting the comment section with close-minded reactions.

    —

    now, about those poor little piggies that mean ol’ wim tattooed. So what? why do most of you get all pissy about that? he’s not mauling them, he’s not killing them, and when you see how thick pig skin is, i’d be ready to bet that it’s nothing more than a slightly annoying sensation for them to get tattooed. Farmers tattoo and brand their animals all the time, get over it!

    —

    Ruby: I understand you perfectly, as I also do photography, painting and graphism a lot. But unlike you, I know why this guy got featured on neatorama.

    Because he’s smart enough to stand out of the crowd, to make people talk (as a proof, look at the reaction of the neatorama readers. I don’t see much indifference here!) However, the world is full of pretty pictures. people are used to that kind of art. if you don’t make them think, if you don’t make them react, if you don’t innovate, you’ll never become anything more than a part of a crowd of artists who still have old-fashioned values.

    —

    As for the fact of him being the most badass artist, now that’s something people are right to comment against!

    many many many artists died for their art.

    An artist who’s name I can’t remember starved himself to the edge of death for the sake of art and took pictures of the process. One of them I’ll always remember is him, reduced to skin and bones, smeared with his own feces (yeah, I know, It’s getting redundant) and his skin, now flaccid because of the massive weight loss, pulled away from his bones by hooks piercing it. A haunting picture to say the least.

    Delvoye, however, is very interesting, but not such a badass if I may say.

42. Anthropologus
    October 27th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    I wonder if all b elgiums like Delvoye and Poirot are idiots or related…

43. HighSquirrelArt
    February 6th, 2009 at 11:22 am

    David G:

    Here comes a sycophantic applause: Nice!

    Kayla: People like yourself make memories of 1st year Art school come crashing back to the surface … Although I agree, any artist worth their salt should refine their “old-fashioned” skills to a point of excellence (up through high school)… but there usually comes a point after studying Art History, where one has an awakening. Duchamp was not only one of the true progenitors of this evolution, probably the greatest given the context. Andy of course, but in modern times, guys like Koons, Hirst, Friedman and Delvoye are pushing the envelope further … I would argue not nearly as much or as far as some of the “greats” from the past … but it’s a push. I was actually getting a real giggle out of all the reactionary comments here … if that was your intent, then kudos, otherwise it could be a case of an ostrich with it’s head in the sand, argument would be pointless. Personally, I don’t think this guy is a bad ass at all … artist or otherwise.

44. Lindsey
    May 6th, 2009 at 5:16 pm

    OK, i’m getting really sick of this. I’m a Belgian illustrator, and i’m the last one to defend the so-called concept arts. Most of the time i think it’s a waste of time and space - but hey, that’s only my opinion.
    I said most of the time, because Wim is one artist who really gets my respect. Okay, so he works with feces - so what? At least he’s being himself, and he makes peope think twice. It’s not just the poo though, it goes much further than that.
    People here who only consider a “pretty” picture art, well let me say that you are short minded ( a typical american way of thinking i should say - not disciminating here but it’s just the way I feel after reading the comments) I don’t blame you, it’s what history and the government put in our minds. Most people only think of art as a pretty painting, or maybe (if we’re lucky) a sculpture. But that’s where it mostly ends and after art school and other experiences i’m really fed up with that additude.
    If art needs to be beautiful to look at, and only that, what’s the use of calling it art? Everybody can copy a scenery, a cute little animal or a anne geddes baby nowadays. And don’t give me that “you need to have talent” shit. Ok, some people are more talented than others to draw, but really It’s not hard: you can be a painter yourself and paint by numbers, or you can take a piece of paper and just put it over the original and draw it over. So yes, in fact everybody can be a so-called artist. It’s not hard at all to make a beautiful picture.
    What’s harder is to make it interesting: to put something in the work that makes it special, that makes people look twice or at least think about it.
    And to all of you who have comment on the pigs: i really cannot see a problem with it. They are not trated bad, the tattooing was under narcose so they didn’t have any pain at all, and it’s not that they have any problems with being tattood themselves. Nothing harmful was done to their skin itself- like someone commented: farmers burn their animas all the time, so what is worse?

    Art is a difficult something to discuss, and always will be. But please try to think about what you see, and stop being short minded. And If you choose to go for the last option: go back to your celebrities or whatever, where you don’t have to think at all.

45. Crystal
    June 26th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    Honestly, what is wrong with people these days!! do they have any idea what is going on in this poor pigs head? We’ as humans’ can decide weather or not we want to inflict pain upon ourselves to express whatever we feel tatoo’s express? But an animal…? common!!! This should not be happening!!!!

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