Pages: 1 [2] 3 4   Go Down

Author Topic: Is this potato art?  (Read 27567 times)

GrahamBy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1813
    • Some of my photos
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #20 on: January 30, 2016, 05:59:06 am »

I thought all of conceptual art was a (conceptual) hoax... so saying that this sale is a hoax is not an oppositional stance to adopt relative to the veracity of the artistic status of the photo, which by extension has been freed to circulate in the context of the subject (as signifier of all potatoes, the signified(s)).
Logged

torger

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3267
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #21 on: January 30, 2016, 08:52:49 am »

Private sales doesn't count :)

An art auction is a much better value indicator.
Logged

Isaac

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3123
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #22 on: January 30, 2016, 11:11:35 am »

… and the tongue in cheek artist's statement are not exactly subtle.

Is your claim that Zivko Grozdanic is fictional?
Logged

amolitor

  • Guest
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #23 on: January 30, 2016, 11:52:52 am »

I mean a hoax not in the sense some complex of ambiguity about the meaning of the Art. I mean hoax in the literal and explicit sense of "the sale never happened".
Logged

Slobodan Blagojevic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 18090
  • When everyone thinks the same, nobody thinks
    • My website
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #24 on: January 30, 2016, 12:58:06 pm »

...I mean hoax in the literal and explicit sense of "the sale never happened".

If that is the case (and I don't know if it is or isn't), then it speaks more about the sad state of today's journalism than art. If multiple news sources report this without fact checking, that is.

GrahamBy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1813
    • Some of my photos
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #25 on: January 30, 2016, 03:46:14 pm »

Some sympathy for the journalists in this case, since it's unverifiable. Of course in a different world, that might mean that it simply wasn't reported.
I don't think it makes the art-market any more or less ludicrous than it is already, so... meh.
Logged

Tim Lookingbill

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2436
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #26 on: January 30, 2016, 04:07:42 pm »

No, it's specifically the sake of the potato that has the true of a hoax, and not even one the artist is trying to conceal particularly.

The astronomical price and anonymous buyer, and the tongue in cheek artist's statement are not exactly subtle.

It's not anymore a hoax in using the same type of valuation system as the S&P rating agency giving AAA ratings to worthless bundled securities that nearly brought down the economy in 2008. What was the damage? People lost their homes and retirement and no one went to jail.

I've been watching the wheels turn round and round going on 57 years now and I'm convinced our value system is run by gangs of like minded individuals who have access to resources that allow them to set value and prices and make it appear it's being influenced by naturally occurring market forces when it really isn't. But they'll keep evaluating them selves quite exorbitantly as long as all members of the gangs are on board including what they pay CEO's.

So a group of like minded individuals placing great value in a photo of a potato is no different (and no more a hoax) except no one is losing their home. And in a way it's kind of giving the middle finger to those other gangs of 1%'s who have no style or sense of humor about them.
Logged

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #27 on: January 31, 2016, 12:57:41 am »

AFAIK, it is all true and that it why it is the subject of my next assignment in a Photigy course to do a portrait style photograph of a common item.
Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

Zorki5

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 486
    • AOLib
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #28 on: January 31, 2016, 01:58:50 am »

If that is the case (and I don't know if it is or isn't), then it speaks more about the sad state of today's journalism than art.

It does say something about the state of art market though.

I mean, if you, say, read that a picture of cat's feces taken with an iPhone had been sold for $5m, would you be willing to bet some serious money it didn't happen? I know I wouldn't.  :)

And journalists? When I think of journalists in situations like this, one scene from South Park's Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow comes to mind:

Journalist: We are not sure what's going on, but we're reporting that there is looting, raping, and cannibalism.
Guy in the studio: Oh my God, you actually saw people looting, raping, and eating each other?!!
Journalist: No, we're just reporting.
Logged

landscapephoto

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 623
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #29 on: January 31, 2016, 06:19:04 am »

There is a precedent about green peppers:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_No._30

Logged

amolitor

  • Guest
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #30 on: January 31, 2016, 09:57:32 am »

Using the potato picture as a jumping off point to complain about how nonsensical the Art Market is, is silly. When a Gurksy sells for "too much" money at auction that is one thing, a thing in which some money is given by one person to another, and a picture is returned.

When Peter Lik or Kevin Abosch "sells" a picture for "too much" money, this is the important part, neither money nor a picture changes hands.

In the first case, you can argue pointlessly about whether a Gursky (or Picasso, or whatever) is "worth" that much money, which is a messy can of worms because value is something quite hard to nail down.

In the second case there's nothing to argue about. There was no transaction, there's literally nothing except a press release. It's like arguing that pollution is getting out of control on the basis of a 5 year old declaring that the sky is red.
Logged

RSL

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 16046
    • http://www.russ-lewis.com
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #31 on: January 31, 2016, 10:32:36 am »

Right Andrew. People who don't understand economics think they can assign their own idea of what something is worth to an object. Governments do it all the time. What something is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it.
Logged
Russ Lewis  www.russ-lewis.com.

Zorki5

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 486
    • AOLib
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #32 on: January 31, 2016, 11:01:38 am »

People who don't understand economics think they can assign their own idea of what something is worth to an object.

OTOH, people who do understand economics always remember tulip mania and its consequences.
Logged

bjanes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3387
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #33 on: January 31, 2016, 11:09:50 am »

OTOH, people who do understand economics always remember tulip mania and its consequences.

Tulips are beautiful flowers and it is understandable that there could have been over-enthusiasm for them at that time. However, a potato? IMHO, the image is without any merit.

Bill
Logged

RSL

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 16046
    • http://www.russ-lewis.com
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #34 on: January 31, 2016, 11:26:14 am »

OTOH, people who do understand economics always remember tulip mania and its consequences.

And, so, what was the value assigned to the tulips by those who understood economics ? Don't remember reading about that. Fact is, nobody knew what the damned tulips actually were worth, and there are plenty of other examples of that kind of thing. The Great Groundnut Scheme comes to mind. That was a situation where the government was behind the fiasco and, as usual, taxpayers suffered the consequences.
Logged
Russ Lewis  www.russ-lewis.com.

ErikKaffehr

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 11311
    • Echophoto
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #35 on: January 31, 2016, 11:39:03 am »

Hi Russ,

You explain that point very well.

Best regards
Erik

Right Andrew. People who don't understand economics think they can assign their own idea of what something is worth to an object. Governments do it all the time. What something is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it.
Logged
Erik Kaffehr
 

Zorki5

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 486
    • AOLib
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #36 on: January 31, 2016, 12:11:06 pm »

Fact is, nobody knew what the damned tulips actually were worth, and there are plenty of other examples of that kind of thing.

Right. And, to me, sales of certain dubious artwork are very similar.

That is not to say it's necessarily a bubble, let alone a bubble that will burst any time soon. But the... err, potential is there.
Logged

RSL

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 16046
    • http://www.russ-lewis.com
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #37 on: January 31, 2016, 12:25:29 pm »

It's similar, but at least the people buying the stuff will have to suffer the downside, not the taxpayers.

It strikes me that auction goers pump each other up and preserve and boost a value system that has nothing to do with the artwork as artwork. It has to do with the objects as objects. I know I can enjoy a good copy of Le déjeuner des canotiers without having to own the original, but there are those who buy originals so they can have bragging rights. But who's to say that the artificially pumped up prices of those objects are the wrong prices? If you have more money than you can spend in a lifetime, what the hey? You and I can opine that somebody like that ought to spend their money in more politically correct ways, but we don't own the money, and it's their decision. I think it's stupid, but I don't think it's criminal.
Logged
Russ Lewis  www.russ-lewis.com.

Tim Lookingbill

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2436
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #38 on: January 31, 2016, 02:39:15 pm »

The potato photo does have a kind of David Lynch vibe about it reminding me of some the other worldly and quite disturbing scenes from "Eraserhead".
Logged

pcgpcg

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 490
    • paulglasser
Re: Is this potato art?
« Reply #39 on: February 01, 2016, 05:24:12 pm »

I've never heard of potato art, but now that I know there is such a thing, I think that because this is technically a fairly good photo of a potato and, for some, it could possibly be interpreted as making a statement about how very lonely it can be to be a potato when there are no other potatoes around, then I would say yes, this is potato art.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4   Go Up