Electricians try their hand at abstract art


By Associated Press, 6/13/2003


BEACON, N.Y. (AP) The phrase, "I could do that" is often heard at
modern art museums.


Some electricians working at the Dia:Beacon museum tried to prove
it.


After viewing abstract sculptures by John Chamberlain crafted with
materials such as crushed automobile parts, a group of
electricians created their own work and placed it alongside
Chamberlain's.


About a week passed before anyone noticed the addition to the
exhibit, featuring such works as "Norma Jean Risen" and "The
Privet."


"We saw some artwork upstairs," David Vega, the group foreman,
told radio station WNYT in an interview to be aired this weekend.
"We tried to imitate it see how long they'd take to find it.


"And a couple of guys who were walking about, around it, they
didn't even notice it," he said. "It was just for fun."


Workers setting up the exhibit discovered and removed the piece
before Dia:Beacon opened to the public May 18, said Amy Weisser,
the museum's assistant director.


"The electricians made a sculpture, an homage to John's work," she
said. "When the art installers saw it, they knew it wasn't John's
work. This was something that wasn't mistaken as a work of art by
anyone other than the electricians."


The museum threw away the electricians' sculpture.


The Dia:Beacon occupies a restored printing plant on the Hudson
River, 60 miles north of New York City.

"...crushed automobile parts..."

Big hairy deal...I see that every day in the fire service. For my money, I'd rather see the electricians' work.

Mike (mamills)

I agree! Gee, I wish they'd at least taken a picture of it!

T'ain't nuthin speshull. . .I mowed my grass just the other day and found two of these skullchers on cinder block stands. . .

Pardon Me, our brothers create a work of art just to be shuned by those whose nose altitude rival the poles we set.

Let me see, didn't a well known (ahem) artist stack up a bunch of soup cans once. The skill of that couldn't compare to what I can only (I'm sure subpar in my imagination) dream these "electrician artist" created.

Hey, really, this would be a great new category.

Roger

After tossing the electricians' work of art out I wonder if they ever thought how their own precious pieces would look in the dark?

Had a coon dog that died from eating an artist's modeling clay.

I wouldn't have traded 'ol Ben for all the paintings and sculptures the guy had in his studio.

'Ol Ben with his front paws on the tree,tree-barking his heart out, now that was art.


Russell

I wonder if it looked something like this:



or this:



Pictures by Alan 2002 >> 'old' thread


Bill

Cool pics Bill,
But, you have to ask the question, what is ART?.
How is one piece art and another NOT?
Remember when that guy in the UK won that big art prize for his exhibition called "Lights going on and off again" and that's art, eh?.
If you can make a top selling art-work out of a crushed car or so forth, it makes you wonder about these arty people,what are they seeing, that we don't?.

Trumpy,

Years ago I had close daily contact with some various forms of art including a large number of Picasso items, (Paintings and Sculptures). I don't think I want to see what he was seeing ...


Bill

Bill,
I think that you have to be educated at a certain school, before you can see what all the arty people see!.

Nice to see we have such a big group of well-adjusted members at ECN who don't get this abstract art stuff either!

As for me, I can see the art in a nicely wired distribution frame, or a neatly designed printed circuit board, but not the junk they're calling art. Some of the stuff that's been exhibited as "art" in the London galleries in recent years is beyond belief.

I would say some mind altering chemicals would be needed to "see" the art for most of this stuff.

It's all in the eye of the beheader.

TG,

Saturday Night Live's Bass-O-Matic meets the Art Police. Life is stranger than comedy!

I've frequently noted that the art hipsters have absolutely no sense of humor.

It's funny, the museum's shill says it was an homage to John Chamberlain and then the museum threw it out. Idiots.

It would have been interesting to put both of them side by side to gauge crowd reaction and ATTRACT CUSTOMERS!!

If someone found it, it would have been cool to put in front of an electrician's shop, electrical supply house or something.

There's a hardware store here in town that has a funky looking fountain made out of various household plumbing parts and also a fan manufacturer/seller who has a few little artsy things made out of fan motors, gears, microswitches, lights and gears in the window -- parts that he sells.

Oh well....

Maybe the "artists" can't stand the competition...

I'd much rather much look at an electrical installation any day of the week than an artistically arranged pile of garbage, or an abstract painting of someone with three eyes (all on the same side of the head, of course).

I can't help but agree with iwire...mind- altering chemicals would help make some sense out of some of this stuff.

Mike (mamills)