Further to Saskatoon’s latest adventure in publicly-funded art, here’s a little background on the artist, a Ms Keeley Haftner.
Ms Haftner has at least, albeit inadvertently, captured the ethos of so much “public” art, which is to say, socialised art in which the public has no say, and the mindset of the people it very often attracts. What with beauty being so “problematic” and, perhaps more to the point, difficult to achieve by people whose self-regard outstrips their ability to a comical degree. And so the good people of Saskatoon will get what they’re given. By people who know best. It’s the egalitarian way.
As you’ll see, Ms Haftner’s previous efforts are no less colossal in their scope and profundity.
I have a lot of disdain for “public” art. Not the sculpture pieces mind you, but the modern temporary garbage you get for some art festivals. Take for example Nuit Blanche that runs here in Toronto for 24 hours every October. The first one I observed was back in 2008. One piece was a dance club scene set up in a garbage can. Another was office supplies strewn all through an alley with a drop ceiling installed above. One piece was a “waterfall” made of plastic bottles. I concluded that the sub theme was garbage. As so many of the pieces I saw were just that. I have tried checking it out from time to time but it has become more a drunken shamble as they close off streets and people crowd around these pieces of “art” to say they got cultured.
From the con artist’s FB page: “a mentor once told me something that has stuck with me since: that a strong reaction to a work in either direction is far better than no reaction at all.”
So forcibly taking other people’s hard earned wealth and then insulting them with what is debased and vulgar becomes the definition of good art.
Public art is a sickening waste of our tax dollars. Allowing pretentious slimebag hipsters to gawk at the artist’s mental illness spilled onto a canvas or laid out on the street, usually in the most talentless way, should not cost me my hard earned money. If someone who is actually interested in this wants to see it let them pay for it! It is a F**K YOU to the taxpayer who has to fund this BS. If they want to create mindless garbage and be paid for it then they should sell their art rather than let city sanitation workers pick it up and put it in a landfill when everyone is done with it. And if no one buys it, which is normally the case, then they can fund their next talentless project with a bake sale or private donations. But then again, this may seem like real work for them and they are unlikely to do it. Typical parasites of the left.
I can’t help but think that a quick call to 1-800-GOT-JUNK would resolve this issue quickly and cleanly.
Why not turn the site into a bigger pile of garbage?
Given the original garbage was declared a work of art, anyone found to have joined in by adding their own garbage could claim their addition was a sincere expression of community involvement motivated by their appreciation for the original work. The more diverse the garbage, the better to reflect the state of socio-economic disparity in Saskatoon.
My least-favorite piece of performance art, government funded, was a video of a female spitting at her reflection in a mirror.
TRANSGRESSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Years ago the UBC Engineers pulled an hilarious “stunt”. A few of the students were working on campus one summer, when it was extremely quiet, with so few people around. They had access to a metal works shop. In their spare time they constructed some monolithic pieces of junk consisting of metal intertwined with metal.
One night they secretly moved all of this “art” to different locations on the campus. So the next morning these new, strange looking pieces of art were “just there”. They might have looked like crap but who was going to question the infinite wisdom of the powers at be.
Fast forward to the next February. During the annual engineering week, one afternoon groups of engineers marched over to the different pieces of art and started destroying them. There was outrage from all corners of the campus, none more so than the rampant hordes of Lefties. There were complaints to the administration, of course. Only then was it revealed who created this “art”. These same fellows were the same ones who were instrumental in its destruction.
Brilliant!
Ms.Haftner may be the greatest artistic talent that ever set foot on our planet,I wouldn’t know,BUT, Ms.Haftner has the eating habits of a pig.
There are too many phonies who are too lazy or useless to obtain gainful employment,and manage to con stupid civil servants into believing they have something worthy to contribute to the world.
Ms.Haftner should be handed a four foot long stick with a spike in the end,and told to go collect trash from public places. In her mind she can tell herself she’s doing performance art,while actually doing something useful, for once.
“Ms.Haftner should be handed a four foot long stick with a spike in the end,and told to go collect trash from public places. In her mind she can tell herself she’s doing performance art,while actually doing something useful, for once.”
Maybe Alberta should do the same for Alison Redford. I heard she wants to still claim a pay cheque while not showing up to work. Having her pick up garbage on the legislature grounds would be a good way to gainfully employ her.
“Every pothole in every road must have already been filled in then.”
HEEEEEEEEEE, Heeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeeee…….
I’ll roger that, Joan.
http://canadianlandowneralliance.ca/articles/Jamie-MacMaster-Canada-where-wants-trump-needs.html
with ppl like you around “welfare” s becoming sooooo difficult:-)))
Wow, that was incredible. I laughed, I cried and the emotional impact will stay with me for life. It’s too bad that we don’t have a “Canada’s got talent” because the inspiration shown in mowing down that whateverthehell that was along with her holistic head swivels that complimented the flowing attire and my fixation of that shit streak running to her chin was almost more than I could handle. Amazing talent and whatever grant money she receives is not nearly enough. Just surprised the CBC hasn’t snapped her up to head the entertainment section. Have to lie down for a while now to bring my emotions back under control. Wow….just wow.
Fortunately I cheated and skipped right to the end. Otherwise my wasted 2 minutes would have been 6. I can now spend those 4 minutes writing a comment to save other poor suckers from watching that tripe. Spoiler alert – she finished the “apple”. What a waste of electrons.
The only thing only slightly interesting about that video was the paint chipped barn board.
That thing she was eating was also entertaining. Reminded me of some of the Zombie shows I’e seen. That barn door did have more personality though.
The city of Saskatoon (TAXPAYERS) paid this woman 4,000 dollars to produce this pile of garbage. PLACEMAKER PROGRAM 2014 has a 40,000 dollar budget. The people responsible for this unbelievable waste of money need to be exposed. Firstly, Aaron Loras, his company gave the garbage that produced this crap. Murry Totland, he runs city hall and the buck should stop with him. Mayor Don Attchison and this useless group of city councillors. The city of Saskatoon raised taxes 7.5% for 2014. The city says it has no money to clean streets of snow in the winter, paint lines on the streets that last, fix potholes, etc, etc. I for one think that people have had enough of this crap. We should do something about it. How about bringing recycles down to city hall and dumping out front. Maybe someone should take used appliances over to the WILLOWS,(the mayor lives there), and park them in front of his house. Put a sign on it and call it art. Tomorrow I an calling the Fire Department to complain that this garbage could be a fire hazard.
Allow me to say one positive thing about these forms of public art. While a hundred years from now we hopefully will still be able to admire and be awed by the works of the great masters the forms of art that are now jokingly called “modern” or “public” art will long be forgotten.