This guy has fantastic concepts, and while creepy and a waste of time, hes very creative. id have alot more respect for him if he actually carved his face into the mold rather than just sticking it in there.

why cant you just say, “hey i’m not into it.” and move on, instead of attempting to bash on something you really dont understand?

conceptual art is about the theory, the concept. its new, is weird, sometimes it sucks, but the very fact that there are 35+ comments on this post means that it was indeed successful.

why cant we have an insightful, intelligent conversation about the merits of the work instead of bashing on art as a whole? i am of the mind that anything can be art, all it takes is intention. if i point to dog poo and say its art, its art, and i think thats fantastic! everyone can do it and thats what makes it wonderful to me! we’re all artists! we’re all creators and we’re all learning new and unique ways to create our reality.

I wouldn’t bother making the trip to see this. I just saw the essence of it on Neatorama.

Bingo. People do this at my school all the time (make casts of faces). I’ve done it. They are sometimes hung up and down a hallway. We just didn’t do it with blood, so obviously nobody cares. It could look the same but nobody would care. That’s why it’s more a concept or gimmick than it is art. I’m not saying there’s nothing interesting about it, even though I don’t care for it.

As for the dog poo comment I made, it certainly is relevant, because the fact that one can point at dog poo and say, “this is now art” changes the ENTIRE art game, and short-circuits any discussion about what is and what is not art, which was my point.

“Why does blood repulse you?”

This question is incredibly easy to answer. Blood repulses most people due to evolution. Throughout the history of living things, blood meant this:

1. You are injured, you may be dying, this is very bad and you must do something immediately.
2. Your friend/family member is injured or dying, or dead. This is bad. Action may be required.
3. This substance carries disease/bacteria/maggots. If it is not the blood of a freshly killed animal, it is almost certainly a dangerous substance to be avoided. Even if it is the blood of a freshly killed animal or human, it may carry disease.

It boils down to killing/war/injury/sickness/death. The repulsion or discomfort is triggered when we see this because those who did not feel any repulsion or discomfort from blood have had their DNA vanish from the gene pool because they died before they were able to reproduce.

It’s far less than an ideal medium for sculpting, it has
more value for other purposes, and it requires energy
to keep it frozen, but it’s SO conceptual!

This is really more making a cast of his face and then using an unusual medium to cast it. His blood would probably have been more useful if he had donated it to a blood bank, rather than wasting it on this “shock” piece.

Sits in very cool (excuse the pun) silver freezer!

For perspective, I actually graduated from and now teach at what is often considered to be one of the two most liberal art schools in the United States, so it is pretty hard to shock me with this sort of stuff.

I just don’t enjoy it and don’t really consider it art so much as I consider it spectacle or gimmick. Since everything can now be called art, there’s no stopping calling this art as well. I can point to some dog poo and say “that’s art” and it is so, just by my identifying it as such. I don’t fight this – it’s just the way things are now.

People have every right to make and enjoy this type of thing, and I have every right to think it’s gimmicky stuff for hipsters.

I dare you to lick it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Beuys#Artworks_and_performances

He has installations in the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

Amen, brother. This stuff is one of the reasons I started to call myself an illustrator, which traditionally has been kind of a slur in the fine arts world. I classify myself this way in large part to signify that I am a craftsman as well as an artist. You can’t fake it if you call yourself an illustrator, and that gives me great comfort.

Just to be clear, I think it’s fine that people do this conceptual stuff if they really want to, but a lot of it, I feel, has an “Emperor’s New Clothes” aspect, because anything can be called “art.” Some of it can be very clever, and sometimes I enjoy it, but I’d rather stuff like this were called something else, like “shock pop entertainment.”

Anyways, I’ll be glad when this thing is gone from the front page. There’s too much ugliness and gore in the world already.

What a clown.

I do like the color of blood, being a nice dark red and all, and it’s nice. Nobody’s trying to push some deep meaning.

This would make a delicious shave ice mmmm