Quirky Project for 2010

It’s time to find out. The first offering on eBay that was strictly matter of fact yielded no takers (even with no reserve.) Not that anyone was that surprised. It takes some selling to make something like this attractive.

As I’m getting ready to send ten copies off to the Museum of Bad Art, I thought this next effort should begin with my own advice on art analysis

So to start, some obvious contrasts

• Pastel background compared to swarthy foreground
• 19th century (Lincoln) vs 20th century (Kennedy)
• Facial hair vs none
• No scandal vs quite a bit

Leading into the greater conflict of secrets kept and secrets revealed, infantile innocence lost to humanity and the power of conspiracy theories and distrust of lawyers.

And finally putting it all together:

The artist’s deliberate use of two iconic figures represents the contrast between secrets kept and scandal revealed; the inevitable movement of society across time to seek knowledge of itself. The subtext that this compulsion can become self-destructive is underscored by the expectation that the viewer will search for what these these two men held in common and be aware of the conspiracy theories surrounding them.  The knowing glance that makes direct contact with the viewer could be interpreted as a smirk or a message across time that secrets kept are indeed hidden until revealed. Thus the viewer becomes  a participant in that same inevitable collision of tectonic plates as privacy yields to a right to know while hero worship is unyielding in the face of factual evidence.

The jarring deliberate use of child-like pastels and brush strokes in the background remind us all that innocence is inherent at birth but lost to the same society that seeks to know, to mold, and to dominate.

There you have it – does it help?  We’ll find out shortly…

I’m not the only person out there that watches the American Idol audition shows and then tunes out when the competition gets serious. There is something fascinating about people that are clearly hearing something different inside their heads than they are projecting to the rest of us  – and it’s obviously  genetic because their mothers invariably think they sound good too.

There’s a visual equivalent to this phenomenon and to simply call it bad art is a misnomer – there is all kinds of creative projects out there that even the artist would say belongs in the trash bin, that’s just part of the creative process.  It’s when the artist declares that the piece has achieved all his or her artistic goals (possibly the masterpiece of a lifetime) and the rest of us are left without words that things start to get interesting. Art analysis has traditionally had strict rules regarding composition, technique, influences and all that sort of thing that have kept a relatively tight lock on this genre – it doesn’t get wall space in most museums or galleries and a lack of sales makes quick work of any enterprising artist that heads out on their own.  But with the web, it’s going digital, if not viral.

I have a certain fondness for this category although not sufficient to hang on my walls; the best candidates are  never boring and can leave you in that slightly gasping state for days or even months.  If you’re feeling brave and have safely put down your soda or coffee cup check out these ‘soul portraits‘.  And if you know of anything that would rival them, please let me know.