Old Professor...

An Oldie But a Goodie...

Martin Kippenberger's Hotel Stationery Drawings

I like the work of Martin Kippenberger (pictured above). He was a Dusseldorf-based artist (along with Markus Oehlen and Albert Oehlen - for all you Red Krayola fans out there, if you're out there at all - Markus Lupertz, and Joerg Immendorff) who is generally associated with the late Seventies/early Eighties German art scene known as Junge Wilde ("wild youth"), sometimes alternatively referred to as Neue Wilde. From what I can tell, beginning around 1989, Kippenberger was in-and-out of hotels around the world - some of them very high end places. During this time, particularly in and around 1995, he executed what are, to me, some of his most interesting works. These drawings on hotel stationery are posted below. I really enjoy these pieces - I think they are interesting in a lot of ways, particularly in that they depict not only a notion of the fleetingness of life/art - for they are done on this disposable hotel stationery. Considering this fact, I am relatively certain these were products not of Kippenberger's desire to show or display in a gallery-type setting, but rather are the creative residue of someone who absolutely had to work in an artistic manner at all times. Their transient nature appeals to me greatly: here, we are given an interesting opportunity to see the art/life fusion at work - art work to a point in which they exist as this creative residue rather than fine-tuned works intended for display. Of course, that destiny of these works was never fulfilled, as they were shown in a gallery after-the-fact. Regardless of the history of their display, I think they are quite successful - maybe even moreso because they were shared with the public rather than kept what I believe they were intended to be, private. I hope you like them as much as I do. Write a comment or two, will ya?

Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (Hotel Mayfair)
1995
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (Hotel St. Gotthard)
1995
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (Mondrian Hotel)
1989
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (Relais Christine)
1994
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (The Bunkhouse)
1995
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (What We Gone Do?)
1995

Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (Hotel EOS)
1995
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (City Hotel)
1995
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled (A La Grande Cloche)
1995

New Desktop Wallpaper...

New Desktop Wallpaper:
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Tower of Babel
1563, oil on oak panel

Old Desktop Wallpaper...

Old Desktop Wallpaper:
Gustave Caillebotte
Paris: A Rainy Day
1877, oil on canvas

This Is Really Bad, Lame Art...

Click here.

Wim Delvoye and the Schlock of the New

Wim Delvoye is the artist responsible for making that gigantic poo machine back in 2000. His Cloaca was a cool idea and all, if you're into Bataille, I suppose. I found it engaging and interesting as a work of art in 2000, at least. I see it as part of the long tradition of nonart or antiart - think: Marcel Duchamp, Marcel Broodthaers, and - perhaps most explicitly, at least in the case of Cloaca - Piero Manzoni. I'm not sure I can be so sympathetic to the tattooed pigs project, though. It seems, well, kind of too outrageous in this cheap, Banksy type of way. I like to think that the Cloaca has this cool austerity that really makes it work for me - far more so than the tattooed pigs and the other, more "shocking" stuff (if, of course, it's at all possible for any of us to be shocked by contemporary art - I'm of the opinion that we probably can't be), or, at least, the "attempting-to-be-shocking" stuff. Here are some YouTube videos featuring Wim Delvoye from the very, very good BBC program, ART SAFARI.

From The People Who Brought You...

Click to enlarge and behold how dilated this little tyke's pupils are. Thanks, Nembutal! (Yes, this is a real advertisement - not sure of the date, though)

Remember That Movie "Ghoulies"? Better Yet, Remember "Tubgirl"?

Joe the Plumber: The Early Years? What? You think he was trying to go live with the Ninja Turtles? Someone call the "BabySHITTER"! Hahaha. OK, enough.

If you walked into this situation, would you:

A) Pull him out and clean him off

B) Quietly close the door and leave him alone for a while - let him struggle a bit, then get him out of there. A challenging life builds character.

C) Flush him. If he won't go quietly, force it.

It's a whole lot funnier if you click the image to enlarge it, BTW.

Sometimes, I wonder about things. I wonder about things that are seemingly unimportant/irrelevant that, to me, shed an awful lot of light on the state of our society. For instance, remember "Billy Bob Teeth"? How did we get from this particular side of the novelty dental/orthodontic gag spectrum, only to take up this in just 5-6 years on down the road?


Regardless of what we may have to say about that age-old "Bubba Teeth" versus "Grillz" debate, I think we can all agree the image below is one of the greatest marketing achievements of our generation. Let it sink in slowly - enjoy your time here - for, very rarely are mere mortals elevated to the status of gods. Today, with this invention we truly have become Masters of the Universe.

Marketing 101: As a general rule of thumb, the baby market is a notoriously mercurial one, indeed. One thing is certain, though: babies LOVE hideous, rotten-looking fake teeth that double as a sweet, succulent pacifier. I bet whoever invented these things made an absolute killing. Poll: if you had (or if you currently have) a baby, would you let him/her wear these things? I think I might. Maybe that would help instill a good sense of humor in Junior early-on.

When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go...

This gives a whole new meaning to "make it rain in da club." I love the fact this happened during a Grateful Dead cover band concert.

Good Things: Nike "Fate" Commercial

I like a lot of stuff, not all of it is necessarily obscure or arcane. As I've grown older I've started to appreciate things I had always taken for granted before as simply "pedestrian" or "mainstream" or "status quo" - things that can actually be quite good: four-door sedans, TV broadcast commentary (JB and the Boys) and, most of all, exceptionally well-done television spots. Here's one of the best going. It's from Nike and features NFL superstars LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu. David Fincher (Se7en, Alien 3, Fight Club, and Zodiac) is the director. Enjoy.