Friday, October 07, 2005
Crazy Paris Art Work
An exhibition in Paris at the Bibliotheque Nationale has caused a bit of a stir, with the work on an insane man's ramblings that were carved into his floorboards.
Plancher de Jeannot (Jeannot's Floorboards) is the bedroom floor of a schizophrenic French farmer, carved with 80 lines of unpunctuated text. It mentions religions, brain controlling machines, Hitler and the Pope.
People are saying that the work should not be on public display and is simply the work of madness. But isn't it "madness" that inspires so much great art throughout art history?. Jeannot's bedroom floor is an extreme case, as he was truly mad, but the measure of one's sanity can hard determine the value of one's art.
Paris revolts over morbid artwork
Some of the text on the floorboards.. "Religion has invented machines for commanding the brain of people and animals and with an invention for seeing our vision through the retina uses us to do ill.. the church after using Hitler to kill the Jews wanted to invent a trial to take power.. we Jean Paule are innocent we have neither killed nor destroyed nor hurt others it's religion that uses electronic machines to command the brain."
To read the story of Jeannot, go to the Guardian article here. ¶ 2:22 AM
An exhibition in Paris at the Bibliotheque Nationale has caused a bit of a stir, with the work on an insane man's ramblings that were carved into his floorboards.Plancher de Jeannot (Jeannot's Floorboards) is the bedroom floor of a schizophrenic French farmer, carved with 80 lines of unpunctuated text. It mentions religions, brain controlling machines, Hitler and the Pope.
People are saying that the work should not be on public display and is simply the work of madness. But isn't it "madness" that inspires so much great art throughout art history?. Jeannot's bedroom floor is an extreme case, as he was truly mad, but the measure of one's sanity can hard determine the value of one's art.
Paris revolts over morbid artwork
Some of the text on the floorboards.. "Religion has invented machines for commanding the brain of people and animals and with an invention for seeing our vision through the retina uses us to do ill.. the church after using Hitler to kill the Jews wanted to invent a trial to take power.. we Jean Paule are innocent we have neither killed nor destroyed nor hurt others it's religion that uses electronic machines to command the brain."
To read the story of Jeannot, go to the Guardian article here. ¶ 2:22 AM
What is the value of an insane man's ramblings and do they constitute art?
I imagine the Surrealists would have grinned slyly with a told-you-so nod and continued on their way.
Personally, I'm of the not-art camp in that it seems more product-of-insanity than product-of-artist. Does this mean that I think brilliance and insanity are necessarily disparate? No. But then, this piece fails in other aspects also.
It is likely that the piece was never intended for an audience. More like a diary entry than graffiti - maybe like a diary entry penned in blood: painstaking, significant to the author, but still a diary entry.
Art, from my perspective, is fundamentally a relational activity. That is, the piece d'art, the observer and the reaction/thought/experience make up a tripartite relationship.
Art, from my perspective, is also fundamentally intentional. It may produce unintended results, but it did have an intention.
I suppose, then, that the curator could usurp the 'artist' title in this case - but that's a different issue altogether.
I imagine the Surrealists would have grinned slyly with a told-you-so nod and continued on their way.
Personally, I'm of the not-art camp in that it seems more product-of-insanity than product-of-artist. Does this mean that I think brilliance and insanity are necessarily disparate? No. But then, this piece fails in other aspects also.
It is likely that the piece was never intended for an audience. More like a diary entry than graffiti - maybe like a diary entry penned in blood: painstaking, significant to the author, but still a diary entry.
Art, from my perspective, is fundamentally a relational activity. That is, the piece d'art, the observer and the reaction/thought/experience make up a tripartite relationship.
Art, from my perspective, is also fundamentally intentional. It may produce unintended results, but it did have an intention.
I suppose, then, that the curator could usurp the 'artist' title in this case - but that's a different issue altogether.
I can't help thinking that if Jeannot was alive, had a moment of sanity, and saw the attention his work was getting, he would be quite flattered.
I think intention is important, but there isnt much intention in a found object like a urinal, which proudly sits in a museum. It really depends on what one sees as art.. art can be much bigger than just three letters.
It's pretty creepy that a pharmaceutical company that sells a drug for schizophrenia owns the work.
I would hang a panel in my home.
I think intention is important, but there isnt much intention in a found object like a urinal, which proudly sits in a museum. It really depends on what one sees as art.. art can be much bigger than just three letters.
It's pretty creepy that a pharmaceutical company that sells a drug for schizophrenia owns the work.
I would hang a panel in my home.
I have a hard time with calling this "Art". I agree with Loren, that art when created has an intention, or at least the creator of it intended the piece to illicit a particular response.
This doesn't in my opinion Qualify.
This doesn't in my opinion Qualify.
THIS ARTWORK IS BEAUTIFUL!
ART IS AN ATTEMPT TO OBJECTIFY THE WORLD AS THE PERSON SEES OR KNOWS IT.
CAVE DRAWINGS EXISTED LONG BEFORE ANY OTHER ART. EVEN ARTAUD (WHOSE WORK IS BRILLIANT) WAS CONSIDERED "MAD" AS WELL.
I BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS JEANNOT'S ATTEMPT TO OBJECTIFY HIS WORLD WHETHER WE THINK IT IS ART OR NOT. THERE IS DEFINITELY A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ART AND MADNESS.
PAUL VALERY SAID "...THE MORE ABSTRACT THE ART, THE MORE PERSONAL!
WHO SAYS YOUR OUVRE IS THE ONLY WAY TO JUDGE ARTWORK?
ART IS AN ATTEMPT TO OBJECTIFY THE WORLD AS THE PERSON SEES OR KNOWS IT.
CAVE DRAWINGS EXISTED LONG BEFORE ANY OTHER ART. EVEN ARTAUD (WHOSE WORK IS BRILLIANT) WAS CONSIDERED "MAD" AS WELL.
I BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS JEANNOT'S ATTEMPT TO OBJECTIFY HIS WORLD WHETHER WE THINK IT IS ART OR NOT. THERE IS DEFINITELY A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ART AND MADNESS.
PAUL VALERY SAID "...THE MORE ABSTRACT THE ART, THE MORE PERSONAL!
WHO SAYS YOUR OUVRE IS THE ONLY WAY TO JUDGE ARTWORK?
# posted by 
: 11:24 AM
: 11:24 AM
Hey its not that crazy. There are lots of people like this out there. In fact this guy that lives down the street from my house has anti-semitic and racist scrawling covering every flat surface on his front lawn. As far as I know none of his stuff has made it into a gallery in Paris. It is unlikely that it ever will. However if he kicks the bucket for whatever reason I wouldn't mind buying some of the signs for my personal collection. The insanity is what makes this sort of art interesting. A window into madness. I shouldn't need to list off all the artist who have gone mad and thus become popular. Quite a few books have been written on the subject. I don't think that there is a question of whether this constitutes art. The question would be "is this valuable and worth the fuss?" Since this question is subjective, it can only be answered by the viewer. There will be people who agree that this constitutes art, and those who don't. What is most interesting about this to me is that this guy apparently did nothing else in his life to garner a reputation as an artist. He was a farmer from what has been stated. So there is no inherent talent which is objectified. It is sheer madness which has gotten his floor in a gallery. Perhaps in this case the madness is the art. The curator has capitalized on this by creating a show out of it. Which may be considered a mad idea in and of itself. This work may not inspire great paintings but it does offer a glimpse into the relationships between madness and the human need to create.
Post a Comment
See our comments policy Comment spam will be deleted
<< Art News Home
