Topic: Is it ART?

[magnus72]

In "Gasoline," Hubert Dobler's first NY solo show, he assaults the polite electronic
façade of our postmodern service-industry landscape with his mean machine
Honda CB550 Four, 1976. It is gasoline, the return of the repressed. No brakes.
Muscular energy.

The power is raw. The motorcycle is chained to the ceiling in Dobler's Bull video
and it screams and bucks into the air and up against the walls like a wild beast.

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[Shenanigans]

I think the last time this video was posted the general consensus was that Hurbert Dobler should be the one tied to the ceiling, cant say that I disagree   

[Ecosse]

This is tantamount to watching a puppy being clubbed! I can see all the clove puffing beret wearing culture SOB's in NYC sipping wine and rattling on for hours about this mess.

As an artist I take personal offense to this type of 'artistic expression'. This stuff is borne from the belief that if you can grab attention, offend people, and/ or make a big enough noise people will call it art for fear of looking uncultured. It's the lazy way out... a gimmick, a 'devise', utterly contrived. Lazy art.

I do, on the other hand, like the idea of stringing up Dobler. I say we round up a SOHC posse and hunt down this punk and drag him behind a... 550. Figuratively speaking of course.

Here's his email folks: hubert@dobler.us

And his website: http://www.dobler.us/

[Shenanigans]

This is tantamount to watching a puppy being clubbed! I can see all the clove puffing beret wearing culture SOB's in NYC sipping wine and rattling on for hours about this mess.

As an artist I take personal offense to this type of 'artistic expression'. This stuff is borne from the belief that if you can grab attention, offend people, and/ or make a big enough noise people will call it art for fear of looking uncultured. It's the lazy way out... a gimmick, a 'devise', utterly contrived. Lazy art.

You know at first I thought that was a little harsh. Maybe this "project" just did not translate well as not all ideas do or even it being just a low point.


Then I looked at the rest of his stuff and yeah...
Even saying lazy might be giving him too much credit.

[Ecosse]

I flew off the handle just a smidgen. But I don't think I'm way off.

It is a bit of a double whammy for me. These artists are what keep many from taking any art seriously, then there's that poor bike. Another artist (forget what country) took a poor street dog and chained it up. Then let it starve as HIS artistic expression. I won't say here what I would take profound pleasure in doing to this person.

As you suggest, all one has to do is go to his (Dobler's) site and see the video of him hitting himself with a bat to the face. What a loser.

[Shenanigans]

I remember that, Guillermo Vargas was the asshats name.

Many uses of a crowbar one might say.


Oh and by the way, you did not think that poorly compressed low quality camcorder footage of himself chasing a motorcycle around in circles was art?

[Ecosse]

Oh and by the way, you did not think that poorly compressed low quality camcorder footage of himself chasing a motorcycle around in circles was art?

Now that's art! If I had to explain you simply wouldn't understand.

Unless of course you were an ar-teest!

[therager]

The fact that we are discussing this at all has some merit for the "artist".
Art is subjective, whats considered "good" art and whats considered "bad" art? Especially difficult to say when were dealing with contemporarty art.  I saw an absolutely normal piece of regular fabric hanging in a wall at the National Gallery of Art in DC, wondering how in the world it made it there and why its considered art. At the Hirshhorn they had a Warhol movie playing, it was an excerpt of his movie "Sleep", a static shot of a man sleeping, nothing more... the full movie consists of 5 hours of this guy sleeping, what BS.
This piece is hard for us to watch cause we love our bikes so much, but it was visually interesting for me.
Part of what art is to me, is doing things that havent been done before...

[my78k]

I understand art even less than I understand carbeurators!

People claim all kinds of crap is art....subjective doesn't even begin to describe it!!! It is worse than an oil thread around this place....

Dennis

[ofreen]

Now this is art -

[Ecosse]

Now this is art -

Hard to tell the sculpture from the 'real' thing.

That poor chimp.

[my78k]

Which one is the chimp??

[martino1972]

Which one is the chimp??

 

[nickjtc]

Is that how Michael Jackson looks now?

[troppo]

That IS michael jackson, the plastic surgery wasnt working so he decided to try ceramic

[texaninseattle]

yeah man...i think its definatly art...i digg it...just too bad he used destroyed one form of art (the bike) to create another...couldnt he have used a gsxr or someother million plus production bike that every 18 y/o kid is already destroying on the street daily

[Geeto67]

I have seen his show and it really is interesting to see in person. not at all like the video sugests.

Truth be told, these bikes are cheap, and to be honest he really doesn't destroy the bike like you think. I liked it and it was not like watching a puppy being clubbed....really you guys need to get over yourselves.