Forum - View topicNEWS: 4,000 Protest Takashi Murakami's Versailles Exhibit
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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Funnily enough, French people actually really like Japan, thats one country where I met the most Japanese culture enthousiasts. The French might be refusing to speak English (and vice versa!), but the language is completely not the issue here and I dont know why you would even bring something like this up. The problem is whether Versailles is an appropriate place for modern art. I have seen photos of another exhibition of modern art done in Versailles a few months back and the outcome for me was poor- not because I dont know anything about art, but because this sort of art didn't work well with the surrounding. I wonder, with so many museums in Paris, is there not a better place for those sculptures? There is Centre Pompidou for example, and many other places where I think they would look much better. I dont find this contrast particularly appealing to be honest. |
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Graddick
 Posts: 46 |
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The pictures attached to this article don't do the story justice because the two works in questions, "My Lonesome Cowboy" and "Hiropon", aren't included. If the exhibition were just that large flower displays, there wouldn't be any controversy.
I think a normal person would be hard pressed to describe either of those work as anything more than "pornography" or "smut". I certainly would. "Hiropon" got a huge spread in the newspaper when the exhibit was in my town and my first reaction to it was utter revulsion. I wonder whether Murakami is now scraping the bottom of the barrel of japanese culture to simply shock people. That's not being an artist. That's being obnoxious. |
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Egan Loo
Posts: 1319 |
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That's the point. There's a lot of flame-fanning online speculation that assumes "My Lonesome Cowboy" and "Hiropon" will be at the Versailles, but as the article says, those two sculptures are not listed as being on exhibit at the Versailles. To include those pictures without pointing that out would be the greater injustice. Murakami doesn't even own "My Lonesome Cowboy" anymore. He sold it on auction two years ago. |
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jsyxx
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Who cares what a normal person thinks? If it was up to "normal people," we'd still have slaves and women wouldn't be allowed to vote. Art is art. If you don't believe in free expression, you always have the choice to try to migrate to a totalitatrian society. |
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Graddick
Posts: 46 |
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You're right. My bad. I must have assumed that the show that came to my city a while ago was the same that's at Versaille.
It matter what "normal" people think if they are the ones footing the bill if the art is being displayed in public or if it was bought by a public gallery. Every country has laws governing obscenity. To say that anything and everything must be tolerated in public space is one extreme of a spectrum where totalitarian social control is at the other end. Both polls are equally undesirable. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Yes. Anyone who doesn't think a semen lasso is art is a stupid 'normal person' who supports slavery, inequality and fascism. |
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The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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Rude ignorant French men? Who ever heard of such a thing?!
 Well, it's actually nice to see there are plenty of ignorant conservative French people. Good to know it's not just in America. Or, ya know, Japan.
And... wow.. It was way back in 2001 that I saw Murakami speak at his exhibit at the art museum down the street from my dorm. I was like three people away in the small mob trying to get his autograph when he had to run to catch his plane. Now the crazy bastard's got an exhibit in Versailles. Wow. That's amazing.
Of course it's not just the people of France who are ignorant who want want to suppress art because they're.. oooo... offended. My Sweet Lord, you should see some of the controversies in America. Almost seems like you're living in Iran. You gotta be careful who you piss off. Last edited by The Xenos on Wed Sep 01, 2010 7:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Love it or hate it "The Lonely Cowboy", and "Hiropon" are in private collections and would not be there anyway, though I think The cowboy and Hiropon would fit right in well inside a palace that epitomises bourgeois decadence in a time of drought, starvation, petulant wars, and plagues. Yet another storm in the teacups of elitist snobs.
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The Xenos
Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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Actually, this juxtaposition is rather brilliant. It rather reminds me of how I first saw his artwork. I was going through the Japanese art section of the museum near my college. I was looking through beautiful suits of samurai armor. Then looking down between some of them, I see another room... and a strange fiberglass scultpure of a blue character that looked akin to Doremon or some modern Japanese mascot. This was Mr DOB in Murakami's Strange Forest sculpture. They had a few small prints in the room with it along with some traditional Japanese prints on scrolls. The mix of ancient art and modern was brilliantly done. I ran back and told my friends about it and we all went to check it out. In the coming months they'd move the display and add more of his work for a full exhibit of his in a main gallery.
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I suppose in the same sense that the mentality of people who support universal healthcare 'leads to' supporting full blown socialism. That doesn't make characterizing them as the latter any less absurd though. Saying that just because someone doesn't think this should be displayed they must be a facist is ridiculous. It's just silly, black and white, straw man rhetoric. Of course, all this is beside the point. I do actually agree that people have no right to forcefully prevent this exhibition. I was responding not in regard to the banning of such a work but rather to J-Syxx's absurdly arrogant categorization of anyone who did not agree this was art which is even worse.
No. It. Does. Not. While America certainly has it's problems it is vastly better off that much of the world and places like Iran. Hence hearing spoiled people complain and make ridiculous comparisons like this annoys me to no end. It's fine to point out and disagree with cases of censorship and supression but for goodness sake, don't be such a bloody drama queen about it. |
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