Anyhow, speaking of glass houses, some right-wing blog written by an artist who airbrushes cheeseball, kitsch paintings on motorcycle helmets, linked to the walk post and sent a couple of — expected — odd and offensive people to the comments (now deleted). Sociopaths and right wing blogs! They go together like … dragons and boobies!
Now, that was a really interesting comment – in effect, a smear directed not at me as much as it is those honest working guys (and girls) who come to me with their wish list and a bike helmet, goal mask, or racecar.
We call automotive airbrushing “candy art” for a reason. It reflects the customer’s whims, not the artist’s. It’s supposed to be fun and decorative, but rendered with the seriousness reserved for the potentially temporary. That’s because this style of art is sometimes painted on objects known to hurtle down racetracks at speeds approaching 200 mph.
Indeed, these particular customers trust that your prep and paint technique won’t result in the failure of structural integrity when they crash. Because eventually, they all crash.
Brett Lamb knows all this. Or he should – he’s a graphic artist. And he’s probably worn a silk-screened t-shirt at some point in his life. He may have even seen “boobies” and “dragons” cover art on a ’70’s rock album. And I’ll bet he knows that when he screws up the cover of a program guide, the customer doesn’t die.
Which brings me to the real point.
As it turns out, when he’s not documenting the stalking of rich people by Toronto Star columnists, he’s art director for the “Hot Docs” film festival;
For me, work on this year’s Hot Docs festival began almost a year ago — the first ad for RealScreen announcing the 2006 festival was due the day after the staff wrap party. It’s a very satisfying project: it’s quiet for several months, then things build slowly in the fall with Doc Soup, then the pace picks up in the new year and for the final two months it’s madness as we juggle deadline after deadline …
Finally, it all comes together! Tonight is Opening Night and from here on it’s parties and screenings (and more work, but that’s the life, eh?).
I wonder – from where does “Hot Docs” get a portion of their funding?
“The Ontario government has announced it is spending around $600,000 this year on programs to help artists improve business skills, reported The Globe and Mail April 30. Among the programs: film-industry training labs at the Hot Docs festival…”
Isn’t that thoughtful. Channeliing tax dollars towards filmmakers who find themselves unhappily excluded from that merit-based community known as “people who create stuff people will pay for voluntarily”.
You see, for reasons that have never been clearly explained, select members of the “arts community” are actually sheltered from their own lack of market appeal through programs and funding provided by various arms of government!
Hot Docs is one of 34 film festivals across the country supported by the media arts program at the Council. Support for media arts festivals is aimed at raising the profile of Canadian independent film and video artists and their works, and helping them connect with distributors, exhibitors and broadcasters.
In other industries, these people are called “corporate welfare bums”.
It’s not new for elitists to direct ridicule towards the whims and tastes of working class Canadians. You’d just think that subsidized elitists would exercise a little self-restraint.
While Brett may offer precautionary advice that the road to artistic misery is to allow money to “dictate what you do” – that’s the path that I and the oilfield workers, electricians, lawyers, doctors, and engineers who ask for “kitsch” on their helmets, cars, shop vehicles walk every day. Beyond the shiny, huggy, distainful realm of the publicly funded arts, there exist people who do that miserable, cheesy, commercially viable work to earn the bucks to pay the taxes to prop up the budgets of films and festivals that keep the kind of creative genius required to generate posters and brochures from having to sully itself with a second job behind a Burger King counter.
You know, if someone actually scraped these artistic parasites off the public tit, it might inspire a few of them to create something worth paying for.
Or, increase the number of available workers for the food service industry.
Win, win.
If you sell art you …..well you sell out. kinda like Seeger did when Chevy used his like a rock song in a commercial.
hmmm
Seeger got how much? Cool.
That art world is so screwed up….If I like your art, ie I think it is something of value to me, I give you something of value for it, ie money.
If not, I will not pay you(unless gov’t counts as me…I guess it does) therefore, you have no money. No money = no food.
Now paint a picture of dogs playing poker and i’ll give you twenty bucks so you can buy Beer and popcorn
Wow. Kate really wielded her Cluebat on Brett Lamb. The guy’s head must be full of lumps.
Good.
Wow. That really silenced the Lamb.
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
You win Kate…priciples,hard work, capitalism, art that doesn’t need ‘tax grants’ to survive(somebody tell Atwood it is possible)and the real winning point a zinger punch to the left totally unexpected.
And those guys on bikes look like a talented bunch too.Libs don’t like that.
Are Lambs tails long enough to tuck between there legs when they run away?
Well Kate, as a customer of yours, I’d just like to express my appreciation of your fine work. Sure it doesn’t have three big stripes or any religious symbols in urine, but I still think it is fine work. For those who have not gone to Kate’s werk page – the pup at the top of the page is mine and Kate did an awesome job painting her.
http://www.katewerk.com/k9art.html
Ha…. I always seem to visit very late when you post a good ass massage on some sanctimonious twit!
Love ya Kate 😉
You have to like that: two artists deeming each other’s work irrelevant.
Poor Brett. I’ve tried so hard to like him since I hosted a Toronto election blog and invited him to submit cartoons. But he’s such a lightweight – always parading these shallow preoccupations as if they’re proof of his sensitivity and fine judgment.
“While Brett may offer precautionary advice that the road to artistic misery is to allow money to “dictate what you do””
I could sell a tonne of stock photography if I spent all day photographing yuppies shaking hands, typing on laptops, and yakking into cell phones. That’s not what floats my creative boat. I’m more interested in the narrative I’m building out here on the prairies.
So I have a day job that pays my bills.
This gives me the artistic freedom I need with my photography to pursue my interests. I may not be quite as productive as Mr. Lamb is in terms of sheer quantity, but it feels good not to be beholden to the commercial interests of customers or the ideologies of whatever government is holding my purse strings.
“I was going to do a bhurka – but tasteful – you know, either lamb or beef.”
I’d do it in pork, but I’m kind of a bastard that way.
“I’ve tried so hard to like him since I hosted a Toronto election blog and invited him to submit cartoons.”
You’re in my bad books for wasting your time writing, Rick. A person who creates portaits like you do should be chained to a camera 24/7.
(That’s a compliment.)
Brilliant Lamb-CHOP Kate ! I love it when you do that!!!
?You know, if someone actually scraped these artistic parasites off the public tit, it might inspire a few of them to create something worth paying for.”
I doubt it. Have you ever seen some of the shit they product? Who the hell would pay for that crap?
Horny Toad
A bloody slaughter!
That opening quote is the height of prototypical leftist arrogance…
Wheeeeeeee! Sliced him and diced him. Lamburger
Anyone who does a job well and isn’t a parasite living off his/her neighbours, meaning they’re making an honest living and aren’t hanging off the tit of the Nanny State, shouldn’t be the butt of anyone’s condescension or judgment.
Obviously, Brett Lamb needs to grow up–but what are the chances? Coddled, entitled, arrogant, swaddled in government cash for life, and used to getting his jollies by putting other people down, this guy sounds like the eternal adolescent. Is he gay, too, I wonder?
Hey, of course, what Lamb didn’t comment on was Kate’s smarts and ability to write. ‘Used his tirade about her “kitsch paintings” to divert the reader from her ability to cut to the quick in a political argument and hoist idiots on their own petard.
I guess he’s finding out the hard way…Yea, Kate! Way to sock it to this bully-girly-man.
“Anyhow, for a project like that he was turned down flat but the book on Bubbles Galore, the montreal stripper was given something like $50,000. Go figure.”
Posted by: Texas Canuck at May 30, 2007 7:13 PM
Hey!!! Now there’s a thought. A painting of Bubbles Galore atop a grain elevator, wearing nothing but a goalie’s helmet and a smile, and appearing all *perky*. (Well, you might have to imagine the smile part. Well, maybe the *perky* part, too) Now there is art that would sell!!!
Someone should be preparing the grant request right now.
Less money for the arts! More money for prisons!
Wow, Kate, that was awesome! Not only did you win, you obliterated him! Wasn’t even a contest! What a “Lamb”-chop! It was a real “Lamb”-poon, you might say! Definitely made minced “Lamb” out of him. Like leading a “Lamb” to the slaughter! Hahahahaha! As others have mentioned already, your devastating post was brilliant! Nay, not brilliant — genius! Yes, it was absolute genius! In fact, YOU’RE a genius! You’re my hero, Kate! Yes, you are! Yes, you are! Go, Kate, go! Kate! Kate! Kate!! KATE!! KATE!!!
“In fact, YOU’RE a genius! You’re my hero, Kate! Yes, you are! Yes, you are! Go, Kate, go! Kate! Kate! Kate!! KATE!! KATE!!!”
Posted by: Fawn
Fawning?
Kate, you’ve more on the ball than Brett Lamb and the many cultural fraud artistes. You go, girl!
Thank you very much, Sean. Unfortunately, it’s hard to make a living as a photographer – you’ve noticed, I know that – even in Toronto, so I have to use the other string on my bow to make ends meet. I like to think of it as an adult decision – one of the first real ones I made in my life, actually, but let’s not go into that. One that doesn’t involve gov’t grants, incidentally.
Besides, if I didn’t write, you’d be down one more conservative voice in the print media in five cities across the country, so, you know, I’m just doing my bit.
…a journalist who doesn’t like to gossip would make a pretty piss-poor journalist…
If that’s how they understand their job, no surprise there is nothing to read in MSM.
You know, “Fawn” – for someone who utilizes the comments function (and my bandwidth) here as frequently as you have lately, that kind of sarcasm should probably be accompanied with either a paypal donation or a graceful exit.
I find that a lot of “art” is conceived with the only goal of being different, avantgarde or shocking. This is supposed to impress people who want to be considered “kulchured”. If someone expresses some hesitation or criticism, it must be because they just don’t “get it”. (barbarians) In my view, it takes more than a gimmick to make art.
These excerpts are taken from CBC reports:
“Over the space of two decades he (Istvan Kantor) has been banned from numerous galleries, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Canada, for splattering “X” marks with his own blood on the walls.”
and…
“A performance artist who once lay naked in a shallow grave with a vial of his own blood dribbling out of his anus is among seven winners of one of Canada’s most prestigious visual arts awards this year.
Described by the jury for the 2004 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts as a “no-holds-barred, neo-Dada” artist, Toronto-based Istvan Kantor is being honoured for his entire body of work, which blends music, kinetic sculpture, multimedia installations and, most famously, performance art.
In the early 1980s, Kantor began a series he eventually entitled his Blood Campaign.
In the first instalment, Restriction 1, he suspended himself naked, filled his mouth with his own blood and assumed the lotus position. In Liaison Inter-Urbain he dug a shallow grave, inserted a vial of blood into his anus and contorted himself so that the blood flowed into his mouth.”
This is considered art.
On second thought, maybe I would have paid to see that from some sort of awful fascination that anyone would (or indeed could) do that.
It’s always revealing when some stilted lefty pismire feels the need to drip hubris on the “low brow” right..very revealing.
It shows that so-called self-professed enlightenment is not above puerile name calling
It displays congenital insecurity and cravenness
It shows us common folk who may consider “dragons and boobies” to be artistically relevant that class (elitist) bigotry is alive on the left and you will be judged “unworthy” by personal tates which are not shared by a narrow minded self professed cultural nobility.
Frankly, people like Brett Lamb who hide their bigotry behind a facade of pseudo-urbane self sanctimony are the core human frailty that fuels leftist elitist bigotry…and why the self professed ruling class left elite are so roundly despised by populist masses…I know that when I personaly am exposed to smarmy elitist doggerel (such as this Lamb creature spews) I simply offer them a few speed bumps in the mouth to calm their neurotic hubris.
Hopfully he was just having another “episode” and will crawl back into the cloistered abyss of urban left intellectual inbreeding with his own kind.
Ihh and did I mention Brett displays ho the “enlightened” can be base line ignorant?
Sorry Brett but you needed that 😉
That’s nothing, Yoop. Now here’s an example of some REAL fawning.
Doe – I was just about to do that same thing!!!
HAHA!
Kate, oh Kate, how we all love thee so! You legitimize our views oh so well, and we absolutely MUST show our appreciation by all agreeing with you, wholeheartedly!
Nobody has to agree with my positions or the items I draw attention to. There are plenty of commentors who debate with civility on a variety of sides here every day.
But what is expected is that you respect the fact that this blog is my private property, and setting the rules is my privilege.
In the same way that I would evict you from my home for insulting me or smearing the walls with graffiti, I have the right to evict you from my digital property as well.
And I’m not interested in your opinion about that. It’s a take it or leave it.
“That’s nothing, Yoop. Now here’s an example of some REAL fawning.”
Posted by: Doe at May 31, 2007 10:50 AM
“Doe – I was just about to do that same thing!!!
HAHA!
Kate, oh Kate, how we all love thee so! You legitimize our views oh so well, and we absolutely MUST show our appreciation by all agreeing with you, wholeheartedly!”
Posted by: Throbbin at May 31, 2007 11:14 AM
Well, there is a difference between:
“I disagree!”
and
“I disagree because…”
Kate,
That was the most poetic smack-down I’ve read in a very long time!
I assume the parasite in question won’t feel the requisite shame as public sector trough-feeders never do.
Still, you made my day again!
Nice try, but I volunteer most of my time to the festival, which is why I’m listed as a sponsor. I volunteer on lots of things. You should all volunteer for something!
I volunteer to cut off all funding to the arts and suggest that you start charging market rate admission/pricing if you want to eat.
I volunteer my low opinion of any patron of today’s crap they call art.
It’s worse than we thought.
Now it turns out that, by the implications of his own admission, Brent is an underemployed, unmarried guy with no children, no dependant old parents and too much time on his hands.
Does anyone with a real job, responsibility and family have time to volunteer let alone for something fun and cushy like a film festival?
Nothing wrong with volunteering your time and/or expertise to a film festival or any other thing. A lot of community centers, hockey and other sports leagues would not exist if it weren’t for volunteers and those damn chocolate covered almonds.
To derive your income from grants and “fundraising” is entirely different. Like those womens groups that were at the government trough for so long. They ate up money just organizing their campaign to ask for money. NAC or SOW or whatever they called themselves never did an honest days work for those they claimed to represent.
I managed to hold down a full time job, raise a family and volunteer for a community center all at the same time. Tough, sure but then the self-satisfaction was worth it. And yes, I did apply for many grants and some municipal monies did come into the center (matching our funraising). That is why the neighbourhood kids can now skate in the winter and have a soccer pitch in the summer. One doesn’t volunteer in order advance one’s career or shouldn’t.
I grew up in a very small town and volunteerism was part of the culture. It’s how you connect with your community.
do you people even know blamb? cause im reading these posts and this discussion canNOT be about the person i know.
brett is an entrepreneur with a thriving business! he has clients on a waiting list because he has so many companies who want to work with him. he volunteers his considerable expertise to a not-for-profit and you find fault with that? the man is busier than most people i know and still finds time to take part in things he supports.
poetic smackdown?? these critical posts aren’t even accurate! so you have an internet slander campaign of ignorant idiots patting each other on the back for something that isn’t even valid.
the fact that this kate person responded so harshly tells me their is a grain of truth in what brett originally posted.
yeah
only blamb is allowed to mock others and those he mocks are only being big meanies if they respond.
hey estrojenn
blamb sounds like a dork to me. If you respond, then there must be some grain of truth to it.
To be clear, MY mockery was the response.
Brett:
I linked to your blog with a post containing nothing more than screenshots of Zerb’s comments on a chat forum, and the words “Related: Disturbing Images” – to draw attention to her juvenile stalking behavior of a public figure.
You replied with an attack on my professional abilities, unauthorized use of images from my website, and now have the audacity to accuse me of a “smear” ?
You don’t need to reply. You need to see a dermatologist. Skin as thin as yours needs to be tended to.
As Dionsky would say: “blamb, the dog..”
“volunteerism”
Apparently poor diction was part of your community as well.
Try an active verb:
In my community, you volunteer.
Ditch the “isms”.
Hmm it seems there’s a Kathy Shaidle who received ” a number of Ontario Arts Council grants, including a Work-in-Progress, to finish her first poetry collection” around 1991 -which was around the same time she started to collect 4 years worth of government disability while at the same time, it seems, she “started to finish” Lobotomy Magnificant -which was short listed for a GG Award ( congrats on that btw) and was published by Oberon Press ( who I’m sure never received a Canada Council Book Publishers Grant … right?)
Is that your pal Kate or some other hypocrite? I guess she’s entitled to her entitlements though.
Yep that’s me Nbob.
You’ll note that 1991 is not the same as 2007. My philosophy about govt arts funding changed. I hope that you too experience that wonderful thing called intellectual maturity someday.
I was never a big fan of it but getting that first cheque is like crack; even the best of us can get hooked. I’ve paid back all the money I got, in taxes, which never amounted to more than the few thousand bucks.
I was more or less in constant all over, untreatable pain and bedridden for most of my time on disability, with only a few “good” hours to live/write, unlike many of the people who go on it because they just don’t feel like working. And I met them all the time, believe me.
I felt guilty every moment I was on it and couldn’t wait to get off. Not a few of my fellow writers asked me why I didn’t just pretend to stay sick so I could keep collecting.
Again, I’ve repaid what I took (it wasn’t much, believe me) as a taxpayer. I don’t think modest govt disability is such a bad thing if you are genuinely disabled.
However, I would encourgage able bodied young people to pay for private chronic illness insurance instead, as early as they possibly can. I’ve had a bank account, a will and even a funeral plot since I was a kid; had I been more with it, I would have thought of private insurance too and saved the system the trouble of looking after me. I deeply regret not doing so.
Being unable to turn a doorknob is a lot different than wanting to sit at your desk all day and scribble. That’s why it says “started to finish” — it took me years to finish some poems because I couldn’t hold a pen.
I have no control over the fact that all Canadian publishers accept arts funding. Were I a publisher I would not. I doubt you’d have turn down the offer to have your book published by one of the country’s oldest small presses on account of that. I certainly wasn’t about to. I take the GO train even though it gets subsidized too. The alternative is to live in a tree and eat bugs, if complete ideological purity is your highest good.
Accusations of “hypocrisy” are always the first refuge of the mediocre mind.
Try again.
Estro: “There”. That is all.
And if that’s not the “blamb you know”, why is he posting it on his blog? Are any of the quotes from his own blog either a) inaccurate or b) somehow not his words?
If not, well, your “knowledge” of him is irrelevant, as it posits knowledge not in evidence.
He might be busy, but I notice no denial of grant money, eh?
Mocking people for doing popular “kitsch” is a bit odd for someone “busy” fulfilling popular orders for stock photography, that amazing bastion of artistic fulfillment*, no?
(Also, I notice he said Except that when you think about it, you realize that a journalist who doesn’t like to gossip would make a pretty piss-poor journalist. – which is farkin’ stupid.
Aren’t journalists supposed to research and report facts, not gossip and rumor?)
* Which is not to deny that doing pro stock photography is a matter of serious craftsmanship; it takes skill in no small measure.
But to complain that someone else’s work is “kitsch”, when you take stock photos for a living? That’s hilariously un-selfaware.
like i said – internet idiots agreeing with each other and patting each other on the back.
blamb doesnt receive arts cancel grants. he makes his money from paying clients.
im done with this thread because, really, its proven itself to be as ridiculous as this woman’s terrible airbrushing. honestly…it isn’t even original artwork.
Accusations of “hypocrisy” are philosophic masturbation for those with no arms.