Constipated by American "Art"--or a Rabrrrrr appreciation thread:

[Thtwudbeme]

This weekend, we took a trip up the the foothills and mountains of NC; for an hour, we visited the Bob Timberlake Gallery:



With the exception of a pair of canvas slacks for Michael that were produced in a foreign sweatshop probably by a 12 year old girl who had been working 12 hours already--we saw nothing. Nothing except a bunch of cheap assed reproductions by a hack that has managed to pass himself off as an artist by simply painting scenes that make Americans go all warm and fuzzy and really, really believe that they remember the whitening bones of a dorry on a beach, when really all they did was see the movie "Summer of '42" :



And all that shit that was reproduced, and made in order to sell some sort of bullshit lifestyle that hasn't been lived by an American since Norm McLean went off to college and eulogized his poor, drunken brother made me think of that other fucking "artist" (hack) who sells what people think they remember of "light" and "villages" which has never, ever been seen by any living person...and that sent me over the edge, so I started thinking about "Precious Moments..."

Somehow that was compounded into being sick about the fact that our country was founded by jackasses, but that our foundations are really nothing more than myths, and card houses...and that we are just one fucked up bullshit society.

And here I am in yet another fucking American Maalox Moment from fucking hell, staring at my bottle of Jack, and wondering about leaving the damned country...not because I don't want to fight these fuckers, but because the mundane shit this country produces makes me sick to my stomach.

[RevCheesehead]

1. My God, Steph....

It's almost like you're channeling him. :rofl:
Hey wait a minute - he ain't dead, is he? (Rabrrrrrr)

[Thtwudbeme]

4. No, but we both will be (dead) emotionally if we keep looking at this

mass produced shit.

Ughhhhh

[supernova]

2. My God woman, what were you thinking?!

The Bob Timberlake gallery?

Wait and go with me to the crafts show in October. That's cool! :D

[Thtwudbeme]

5. I would love that! And I clearly wasn't "thinking"!

It was horrible.

[GOPisEvil]

3. I'm lucky enough to have a Rabrrrrrr (tm) original in my home.

I would never have the kind of crap you're describing. I like my art to challenge me a bit, not just take up space on the walls.

[Thtwudbeme]

6. There is no challenge to Bob Timberlake:

he is selling a dream that never really existed--

The ONLY thing that was missing was the golden retriever in the back of the Outback---

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. And the black lab with the pheasant in his mouth, being petted by

the tall white man with his white male son in tow, big American white smiles on their faces as the sun sets and casts long shadows on the reeds and the trees in the background, the painting mostly done in American Patriot Ochre and Christian Patriot Sunset Holy Light of Our Savior and Fag Hater Jesus Yellow and Family Values Skin Tone White.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. He's even worse than Kinkade, IMO, artistically.

If theres one thing I hate more than the fake villages and cottages lit from inside bullshit, it's the fake country bullshit. Timberlake looks like the empty, tacky, artless shit that Home Interiors sells; or any midwestern mall sells in their "Country Decor" store.

I want to burn to the ground every one of those goddamn places, and any house that features that shit as a "decorating style". Assholes.

At least Kinkade is... well, I can look at it without becoming stressed and angry.

[Hissyspit]

10. As a painting teacher, I would say Kinkade is worse.

But not by much. You could argue that Timberlake is more pretentious because he implies that he is a good painter in a Wyeth tradition and Kinkade is all pure marshmallow and cotton candy, but ultimately they are fake painting that is about marketing more than anything else.

[Critters2]

12. I have some of that fake villages and cottages lit from the inside

bullshit. Much of it gifts from parishioners, so I'm fond of it in that respect. Don't think much of it artistically, but high emotional value. A friend has a Kinkade in her church's sanctuary, with a memorial plaque, of course. That'd be where I'd draw the line.

[supernova]

14. I call it "Country Kitch"

People haven't lived like what BT paints for oh, I'd say since the mid-60s. There are some things I remember being true:

- Outhouses
- Drawing water from a well rather than a tap inside
- Hanging quilts and carpets outside to beat the dust out of them
- Using a sewing machine that you have to generate power for with a foot pedal
- Combing my grandma's long, long gray hair out on the porch with a little VO5
- Even today, there is the odd long abandoned shed by the side of the road, taken over by kudzu

But I'll defend him here just a little bit.... BT paints things that alot of (elderly conservative) people around here are nostalgic for , he paints everyday objects that people remember seeing as part of their lives. They get nostaligic for their parents or grandparents. (These are the same people who like the writing of Clide Edgerton, btw)

Is it art? No. But he's serving his audience. I wonder if he ever considered painting something else? I don't know.

[Critters2]

17. Let me put on my flame-prrof suit, first,

but I actually like some of the Timberlake snowscapes. They resonate with me. But then I find something comforting in the bleakness of winter, so I'd probably feel the same way looking at photos of cabins surrounded by snow. But that's what Timberlake makes me feel.

Just sayin'...

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Timberlake certainly doesn't have the overwrought faux-nostalgia

Jesus-crispy asshole hyper-emotional-manipulativeness of Kinkade, that much is certain.

He does strive for a more emotionally-centered and honest representation.

But when I see Timberlake's stuff I think, "Look - all the shitty abuses of color and perspective of a Currier and Ives, but without the integrity, executed with all the subtly of a paint by numbers."

I went back and looked at his paintings after reading that you like his snowscapes: I, too, am a huge fan of snowscape paintings. So I thought I'd give him a closer look, just on those. But I didn't like any of them. They ring very empty to me, like biting into a chocolate eclair and discovering that the baker replaced the chocolate with a piece of wool rug.

[Hissyspit]

9. But, but ... Bob Timberlake makes LOTS of money! He has to be good!

Not to worry, as an art history/painting teacher, I can attest: He cannot draw well and cannot use paint well. How anyone could spend 30-40 years making paintings and NEVER figure out how to ACTUALLY paint is beyond my comprehension, even as an academic and scholar.

What were you doing there anyway? I could have warned you...

[Calliope]

11. OK I confess ignorance

Who is Bob Timberlake?

[supernova]

15. He's not just a painter, he's a brand

Here you go:


http://www.bobtimberlake.com/

[Calliope]

16. I would say "Thank You" but

YUCK!!!

[Burma Jones]

13. Making Money is the Great American Art

And don't you fergit it

[Monk06]

18. Art died in 1980. All that remains is journalism. n/t