Really? You are in a beautiful place and you have to find something to snark on? Your focus is manners, you talk a lot about being bullied as a kid, but all you do is make fun of other people...right now you are making fun of this artist.

Manners or snark. Can't do both.

Ok, deathbysnoosnoo, let me say it: that is one butt-ugly bit of "artwork". You can quote me on that.

If the artist would ask me, I would say it is interesting, which is the polite way to say butt-ugly.

Really, dbss. If all you can do is find fault with Amy, why do you still read her blog? You don't have to, you know. No one's got a gun to your head.

And yeah, that is an ugly piece of work. The hands on the woman look like a skeleton. Not pretty.

I believe this is by a famous S-Western artist Luis Jimenez.

This is kind of an ugly piece but he's done some other work that's pretty good - referencing the junky, sparkly fiberglass southwest culture.

Snoo: Chill, and/or explain exactly what your problem is. The blogs here to talk about stuff offer vague, wounded critiques of our hostess' life.

______________

Seuss

Bad edit, sorry.

...to talk about stuff, NOT TO etc

That is fugly. Others may not agree, which is why art can never be defined. I am not a fan of southwest art in general.

But I do dearly love Sante Fe. My dad and stepmom got married there is some old chapel with cool stairs. Now THOSE were art.

Reminds me of the velvet paintings they hawk at the square in Santa Fe.

"Interesting" is right. Yeah, it's ugly. I can appreciate the skill required to create it, though. The details (look at how the woman's very toned but still has a little fat around the middle, the muscles in her arms, the tendons in her hands) are masterful. I think it's the colors that make it unappealing.

...but I don't like Southwestern art, either. Also don't much care for Texas, Mexican, South American, or Native American themes. ARTISTS from those places are fine, just don't expect me to sit around and admire cactus and cowboy paintings.

I don't trust a person that doesn't like cowboy paintings.

The face of the woman looks like it was stolen from the indian chief statue that adorns the outside of smoke shops.

Bleh.
Would it make you feel better if you knew that my suburban has a Ranch Hand grill guard? And one of my kid's godfather's has a ranch outside of Fort Worth, and the other one has a feed lot in New Mexico?
Really, though... if I want to see a cowboy I'll walk outside. Hate cowboy art.

I'm from Tucson, and find a lot of the commercial SW decor to be cheesy. That said, I do love my collections of DeGrazia, Nambe, and Mana.

Um, yeah Amy, you really need to take a look around the state... Would you characterize Cali by suggesting it's all like death valley?

As for art, well some people like things and others don't :shrug: Artists usually have reasons for things like a skeletal hand, perhaps there is a point about mortality, dunno.

:shrug: some of Jimenez stuff I like, and others, pretty hideous... He did the Blue Mustang at Denver Intl. Airport, and it's what killed him, when it fell on him.

Everyone has different things they like, and there is a ton of S/W art that is polarizing... but if it makes you think, that's to the good.

My brother lives in Albuquerque and regularly sends me photos of their incredibly bad public art. It may be a small city but they're no slouches in the uglyass art department.

My first thought when I saw the artwork in the picture was, "Did someone steal that from a traveling carnival funhouse? The artist may have been making fun of Southwestern tackiness, but since it is difficult to tell if it is satirizing tackiness or just plain tacky, he did not succeed.

"Would it make you feel better if you knew that my suburban has a Ranch Hand grill guard? And one of my kid's godfather's has a ranch outside of Fort Worth, and the other one has a feed lot in New Mexico?"

?

Still don't trust someone who doesn't like cowboy paintings.

New Mexico is also an extremely poor state. With little mineral wealth, they never developed an industrial base like other states. Apart from tourism and some government installations, there is nothing else to do there but leave.

I miss Cathy Seipp. Are there universities without ugly art displayed? Law of averages and all that, there has to be at least one university without something fugly plopped down.

Oh and I never personally knew Miss Seipp, but read her and was a fan for years. I'm pretty sure I read Ms. Alkon because I was pointed here by Cathy.

I like it. It's whimsical.

This is art purchased with tax dollars; there are several other examples. One that comes to mind is an old car that some "artist" covered with tiles. Great.

Reality: government bureaucrats get to pretend that they are art critics, while handing out someone else's money to their artsy friends.

Having art to enhance public buildings and public spaces is actually appropriate. After all, you surely have pictures or something hanging on the walls in your house. Where this goes wrong is in allowing the bureaucrats to pick the art. If it's a major installation in a public space, then the publish the artists' proposals and hold a public referendum.

'Manners or snark. Can't do both. '

Well that explains your attitude...