Not For Children or Idiots

05/10/10

Something is seriously wrong with the arts when older people are more outrageous, more fierce and more confrontational than the kidz. When Ms. Keough and I did the objectification issue of our college mag 10 years ago, there was such an outcry of offended students over an erect penis that we had to defend ourselves before a packed art and ethics class. One student stood up and professed that if his 10 year old brother was on campus and picked up a copy, it would be as though we had raped him. No teachers seemed to have a problem. In fact, my 80 something painting teacher walked up to me in the street and complimented my art direction.

I guess this rant is a symptom of my getting older, because I grew up in the age of zines and the sounds of "fuck shit up." In fact, I rebelled against that a bit, because I was always interested in taking from anything and everything. But it seems to me that the pendulum has swung too far, and that too many twenty somethings seem totally satisfied in doing things the way they were taught to. And what's worse - they completely believe in it.

It seems to me that artists are being too polite in their desperation for approval. When they are being "outrageous" i.e Lady Gaga, its innocuous and contrived. I'll take a bitchy Ms. Jones any day.

So please, lets have some more obnoxious bullshit, lets get our hands dirty and please lets not give a fuck.

In that vein, get inspired by Horseshit: the Offensive Review, a late 60's magazine out of California that covered politics, religion, the military and sex.

Q: I have always been willing to aid those around me with helpful suggestions, therefore your purely destructive attitude disgusts me. Just once why don't you offer some constructive criticism designed to make people happier?

A: Okay. If you will stop making suggestions, everyone will be happier.