Paul McCarthy’s Art is Offensive
Tags/ Posted by Aurelio MadridFlunking a breast exam one week after womb removal I get the call that something’s showed up and I go back to be prodded, probed and sonographed.continue reading this poem
Paul McCarthy’s art is not for everyone. Viewer beware–caveat spectator! We’ve known this for a while now. He’s been as distasteful back in the 70’s as he is now. Who needs to remember his prurient ketchup, the sleazy masks, the unfortunate dolls & the horrible sexual affronts? We’ll avoid detailing all the other petulant paraphernalia, gooey performances, cheesy props & whatever-else, for the sake of saving the appetite.
Michelangelo Pistoletto – Venus of Rags
Tags/ Posted by Aurelio MadridLet me order my death as I would order a partycontinue reading this poem
Venus of the Rags is redolent of the radical sixties & also an icon of Italian Arte Povera. Arte Povera was young & getting started when Pistoletto created the Venus. The sculpture speaks to a few key ideas of this style. Arte Povera is seen as anti-Modernist in that it ostensibly rejected the idealistic high-Modern minimalism of the time.
Yinka Shonibare
Tags/ Posted by Aurelio MadridVan Helsing unfastened the coffin lid, peeled the crucifix from the bone-white brow.continue reading this poem
Who has dreamt that someday we’ll see the truth & let go of old ideologies that cause suffering in this world? Who has dreamt of the demise of ancient biases? Of course, this will never happen until we face the monsters that dwell inside each one of us.
What is Contemporary Art?
Tags/ Posted by Aurelio MadridNoon. A dry martini at the beach bar, a man swizzles his ‘stache. Bond. Jaime Bond, he says. I’m stalled out by the pool watching birds shit on lounge chairs.continue reading this poem
What is contemporary art? When we engage this gigantic question, we’re thrust into an enormous labyrinth of possible conclusions. How to define or even describe the hydra-headed beast with the elusive name? But first: What is art? Art is usually defined as a man-made object (&/or idea) of aesthetic concern/beauty. Concern & beauty are separated to demonstrate that art does not have to be beautiful, but it usually carries with it an aesthetic “concern”.
