72 Replies to “Show Me An Artist Getting Government Grants”

  1. A couple attending an art exhibition at the National Gallery were staring at a portrait that had them completely confused. The painting depicted three black and totally naked men sitting on a park bench. Two of the figures had black penises, but the one in the middle had a pink penis.
    The curator of the gallery realized that they were having trouble interpreting the painting and offered his assessment. He went on for nearly half an hour explaining how it depicted the sexual emasculation of African Americans in a predominately white, patriarchal society. In fact, he pointed out, “Some serious critics believe that the pink penis also reflects the cultural and sociological oppression experienced by gay men in contemporary society.”
    When the curator left, a Scottish man approached the couple and asked:
    “Would you like to know what the painting is really about?”
    “Now why would you claim to be more of an expert than the curator of the gallery?” asked the couple.
    Because I’m the artist; I painted this picture,” he replied. “In fact, there are no African Americans depicted at all. They’re just three Scottish coal-miners. The guy in the middle went home for lunch.”

  2. It is all just a big cop-out. So they do not have to work for their living – like everybody else does – and to give tax money to these air-heads.

  3. There is absolutely no need for governments to fund the arts. Art has existed since long before anyone conceived of the idea of either government or money. When we find caves that our ancestors lived in, we find paintings on the walls. Dig up a long lost village and find decorative art work and pottery etc.
    So why do we. After 20 plus years of working in close proximity to arts groups, I have come to conclude that the reason politicians give money to them is in order to buy their services when the need arises.
    They are a very handy group to have on your side when you want to run a political campaign. They can take nice pictures of you and your family to slip under doors. They can make lawn signs that are need in the thousands etc. They man phone banks for politicians in order to raise money or for get out the vote efforts. They help fill up the street with protestors when a Mike Harris comes along to amalgamate your city and threatens politicians jobs.
    And that is why we have funding for the arts.

  4. The “artist” claims 400,000 people are going to see his Red Ball.
    Where does he get this number and how is it that, even if true, this generates revenue for the community?
    A vandal who would paint the wall behind it could make the same claim, that 400K people will see his graffiti, but in what way does that generate revenue for the community?
    Real artists don’t need government grants, their art sells to private parties who often become philanthropic and donate them to museums or perhaps lend them.
    Art stores are a good free alternative to museums, one might even like a piece so much that they would then buy it.
    The “artist” depicted in the video probably has never sold one that way, though.
    Culture comes from the masses and not through taxation, it’s a grass roots thing.

  5. I reside part-time in China. There is a huge 20+ city block area in Beijing completely devoted to art called 798 Art District. I’ve visited a couple times and have still not covered everything. The art is outstanding and as a whole frankly much more interesting than so much of the garbage I see back here. I found out on my first visit that there is no government support at all of this. All the artists pay rent and survive financially on their merit alone. Some of them have become quite rich in the process. It proves absolutely that art not only does not require taxpayer funding but the quality suffers because of it.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/798_Art_Zone

  6. While I have no problems with “funding the arts” as per se, I do object to the government giving out taxpayer’s dollars on my behalf.
    My difinition of funding includes everything from pledging PBS to throwing a loonie or two in a street busker’s hat. The point is that it is my decision on how to use my money.

  7. Eye and Now magazines, the local lefty rags, have been going on and on about this inflatible red ball for a couple of weeks now, and the thoughts that have come to my mind are “fraud” and “wouldn’t it be fun to puncture that thing?”
    Good to see someone confront this crap head-on.

  8. bob c
    let me shorten your post for you
    “they are lieberals”
    there that’s shorter and just as honest
    I say let them clean stables or stalls all day, then in the evening they can paint, or what ever. Shovelling sh!t all day would be an excellent inspiration for the art in the evening!!!!

  9. “A government-subsidized artist is an incompetent whore.”
    — Robert A. Heinlein

  10. GYM;
    Here is a true story for you. When Bob Rae was running Ontario, his government bought a lot of local art. It ended up in a warehouse. When the warehouse was full, they dumped it all in the landfill and proceeded to buy more to fill the warehouse again. That, and a few more stories I could tell you, was all I needed to know.

  11. It is a total waste of time talking to the guy who is getting the free ride to bring his big red beach ball to Canada.
    Of course he is going to advocate teat sucking.
    The bigger problem is added traffic congestion this thing causes. The ball was blocking the sidewalk on Queen St the other day which in turn blocks traffic with pedestrians.
    If it wasn’t “art”, it would be deemed a public nuisance.

  12. The artist notes that “People are actually suspicious of Luminato because it’s NOT fully government funded.”
    I know I am. In my personal opinion a work can’t legitimately be called “art” unless it’s been juried and approved by a bureaucrats. Even the paleolithic cave paintings in Altamira had a a tiny little     Canada Council logo underneath them.
    Name me *one* lasting piece of art — music, painting, sculpture, prose — that wasn’t funded by government. I know, I know, there’ll always be people who’ll give “Don Quixote,” say, as an example of a great non-funded work, but it was a terrible book. Way too long, and confusing.
    Give me a big red ball any day.
    OWW!

  13. I’d like to know how much Ryerson University paid (or was paid) to host this artist. Quite the racket they’ve got going on if the taxpayer-funded budget from one entity went towards supplimenting the taxpayer-funded budget of another. The reasons I am proud to say I went to that university are quickly being outnumbered by the reasons I am NOT proud of having gone there. If someone wanted to do an article on political correctness gone mad, it would be just the place.

  15. What gets me is the Conservatives didn’t get the seats they needed for a majority because Quebec didn’t like the cuts to the arts. Morons.

  16. Wrong, Rodney at June 19, 2009 1:57 PM.
    They didn’t get a majority because:
    a) the Maritimes are full of welfare junkies
    b) the Bloc is permitted to exist
    The Maritimes alone, if the CPC had won all the seats, could have given them a majority without Quebec. But the idea that rent seekers and teat suckers were responsible for the minority is true.
    It’s time the west had those 11 more seats they deserve.

  18. My first thought “A wonderful, inspiring piece depicting the ballooning of national debt by the liberal mindset.” Then “A satire into the fear that communism would take over teh world.” Then I realized it was just a big red ball.

  19. Looks staged, but makes a good point. Why TF should “Canadian Culture” be government-funded? Oh, wait, I get it, it’s to differentiate us from those evil Americans and “show solidarity” with Quebec what with our inherent inferiority complex and the passive-aggressive need to appeal to everyone.
    Maybe two big skin-coloured balls would have been better.

  20. Rodney, It isn’t that “Quebec didn’t like the cuts to the arts,” it is that CBC Radio-Canada, et all, who control the airwaves and propaganda in Quebec didn`t like the cuts and they abused their position to make it APPEAR that Quebec was up in arms.
    Most Quebeckers, like the rest of Canada, are not represented by the CBC RadCan crowd.

  21. Note the double-standard? The sign was not free speech, but some stupid red ball is.
    The left will gladly deny your right to express yourself when they disagree with you.

  22. I don’t blame the ‘artist’ at all.
    I would like to kick a few balls around the offices of the bureaucrates that funded him.

  24. I wonder if I could get a grant for my art project. It depicts three individuals; an Albertan (made out of oil rig and refinery parts), a farmer (made out of farm machinery parts and guns), and a lumberjack (made out of chainsaws, axes, etc.) They are each pissing on the grave of P.E.T.
    How fast and how much do you think I will get?

  25. how is it that the “artist soon to be even more famous” steals the “Busted” artwork from the representative from taxpayer.com ?
    I’m not against the idea of the government funding art. It’s just that the art world seems so utterly dependent. So in need of *art* being their day job, while I always thought of art that doesn’t generate enough profit to sustain itself, as being… a hobby.

  27. Kate…just for the fun of it apply for a grant and ‘go crazy’.
    I can imagine the many creative ways you could express yourself….

  28. I would urge everyone to attend the Ontario College Of Art’s open house.
    You can’t miss the building, I actually really like it.
    Highest standards in Ontario.
    You will flip out.
    One notable piece that comes to mind, was 4 plaster casts of big hairy vaginas stuck to the wall.
    It’s unbelievably inspiring, seriously, none of you will believe it.

  31. Ummm, how is it that an American worker, the ‘Artist’, can get access to Cdn. funding? I keep hearing/reading of instances where Canadians, on business trips to the US, have been turned back by US Customs; “Working illegally in the US” or words to that effect.
    An Architect friend up here in B.C., hired by a US client to design a project, had exactly this scenario happen to her.
    Wusses we are.

  32. I’d like to express my rage at art funding cuts through transgressive interpretive dance. Unfortunately, my grant hasn’t come through. Yet again, my creative talent is silenced!

  33. Kurt Perschke [creator]:”…curious, the people who aren’t in the cultural institutions want to be the curators…”
    Curious how some creators (inflator in this case) with little talent, think they are the cultural institutions, and want to be paid as artists.

  34. And why do the supposed avant garde, artsy crowd like the government so much? Government funding allows them to be supposedly cutting edge, but that just translates into disgusting, rather than insight or revelation. Nope, just the usual cliches that have been beaten to death for decades.
    I guess the big red ball was fun, but wasn’t there some local artist north of Trawna that could have done it?
    Still, it’s kind of neat they named the whole festival after my car…

  35. “A government-subsidized artist is an incompetent whore.”
    What, then is a government-subsidized farmer?

  37. the Maritimes are full of welfare junkies
    So what’s your point, OZ? The west is also full of welfare junkies.

  38. “this video has been removed due to terms of use violation”
    Google, you are a censor! Along with the persons who reported it.

  39. When I applied for a Canada Council grant for a book on Canadian history, my application was rejected because I had “the prospect of commercial success”. I should have just dragged a big red ball to Ottawa (and hidden my Canadian passport) and got some support. There is no justification for spending taxpayers’ money on the arts – they should stand on their own like I had to or get private funding.

  40. I saw that stupid red ball being squeezed into an archway in downtown Toronto a couple of weeks ago. ‘Didn’t pay much attention.
    Now, I realize I should have.
    The Taxpayer.com guy should have asked twitface-inflatable-ball-maker (NOT artist) if he knows that a full 1/3, often more, of Canadians’ hard earned salaries are taxed — a much higher percentage than in the U.S.A..
    ‘Not that he’d care.
    “Culture” that red ball ain’t. Crap would be a far more accurate definition.

  41. terms of use violation? I certainly doubt that taxpayer.com has objected. They want this message spread around. What, therefore, could be the problem?

  42. batb, don’t you think it would be more fun to ask the “artist” about his inspiration, and what he feels is unique and … artistic about his ball?

  43. Snappy comeback: What, then is a government-subsidized farmer? ~ philboy 3:59 PM
    Snappier: A producer. ~ Cooper at 4:04 PM

  44. and philboy if you don’t think a subsidized farmer is a producer; why not eat some of the artists products. At least after that, they will turn into what they were thought of.

  45. What to see a real artist? Go to http://www.francetremblay.com/originals.html
    France was my manager at Nortel. Best manager I have ever had in my entire career. When I was laid off from Nortel, I got another techie job, but France took the opportunity to do what she really loves and made a career out of that. Amazing, inspiring person. I wouldn’t even attempt to compare the work of France to the mindless idiot in the video.
    Her work is artwork. How does one know? Because is stands on its own merit. It is beautiful, her technique is amazing, it is innovative, and only a VERY small % of artists could duplicate her work. And she supports herself and her family with hard work and she earns every peny she gets.
    His “work” is the result of him and a bunch of his parasite friends sitting around the pub one night inventing the most ridiculous ideas and bet on who can get government funding. This dick head won the bet.

  46. I’ll bet the Canadian government would pay a million dollars for this gigantic clown nose. They could put it next that other big piece of million dollar piece of crap with three stripes painted on it.
    They both exemplify the simple minds that fund and buy this kind of garbage.
    You don’t need to be discriminating when they are paying with other people’s money.

  47. philboy if you don’t think a subsidized farmer is a producer
    I didn’t say they weren’t producers… but
    they are also, as oz put it, welfare junkies.
    You see, all of you stalwart champions of the free market, including the CTF bozos, don’t seem to have a problem with subsidies, as long as you approve of what’s being subsidized.
    How can one argue with such a philosophically
    consistent position?
    The utter hypocrisy of the small dead mind
    is astounding.

  48. I met an artist on a Government grant once. I was told how easy it would be for me to get one and I did not have to do much. Was told I can get lots of money for doing nothing. I mentioned the obvious, I’m a clown. The short story is that I may not be financially well off, but at least I feel I earned every penny – and pay taxes on it.
    My motto: “Why put an amateur in Ottawa when you can get a professional”. After all somebody has to oppose the Rhino Party.
    If I had the support – I asked Elections Canada about requirements and I just don’t have thousands to register – it would be easy to get the signatures from voters and I would run against any LIEberal – Perhaps Biffy or DeYawn – and win.
    Seriously though, if you have an artistic ability you can make it without the help from government. I would rather give the money to support our Olympic teams. At least you know they work for the help they get, along with personal sacerfices to represent the greatest country – Canada.

  50. philboy is defaulting to invective a bit quickly. Many SDA commenters have a “problem” with subsidies, no matter who gets the taxpayer money. I think the argument here is the priority of what the money subsidizes, farm produce or red rubber balls. Didn’t someone make a song about that?

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