How much is this steaming pile of crap worth? (1 Viewer)

[Not-That-Bright]

How much is this steaming pile of crap worth?

NEW YORK (AFP) -
A large-scale metal sculpture by American artist David Smith has become the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold at auction, fetching 23.8 million dollars at Sotheby's in New York.


Five bidders competed for Smith's "Cubi XXVII" which was the starting lot at a Wednesday evening sale of 54 contemporary works that brought in 114.5 million dollars.

The 1965 sculpture was finally snapped up by Manhattan dealer Larry Gagosian at nearly twice its high estimate of 12 million dollars.

Experts attributed the record price to the fact that most of Smith's works are in museums or permanent collections and therefore make extremely rare auction appearances.

"This exceedingly rare work was the pinnacle of a four-decade career," said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art and the auctioneer for the evening.

The second best price of the evening was the 9.2 million dollars paid for "Jackie Frieze," one of two works in which Andy Warhol assembled portraits of Jackie Kennedy in a frieze format.

 

[ur_inner_child]

david smith is dead. they love dead artists

looks like crap. if i was a rich snob, i wouldn't blow my money on that.

there are worse.

eg

 

[chookyn]

i wouldn't mind it if someone gave it to me, it's kind-of cool.

but yeah, i wouldn't pay anything for it, i'd make my own

 

[soha]

i wouldnt even buy it if it was pure gold or diamonds and jewels

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

er...it's kinda nice...but i wouldnt want it in my lounge room and i certainly wouldnt pay more than about 10 bucks for it.

 

[SashatheMan]

these are shocking. It looks like pieces of metal stuck together, nothing close to art. Reminds me of that episode when homer was an artist and was making same crap

 

[SashatheMan]

this one looks like jenga

 

[SashatheMan]

another one of his works , this guy is not original he steals ideas

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I'm big on art but most of those kind of abstract/junk sculptures are pieces of junk.

Generally they require no skill or creativity, communicate no feeling, have no beauty and convey no meaning or purpose of any substance.

 

[transcendent]

i find abstract contemporary art to be the most pointless expression ever created.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Why should the government fund something like this?

 

[Generator]

Why shouldn't it? Keep in mind that it doesn't contribute much as it is, apparently.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Why shouldn't it? Keep in mind that it doesn't contribute much as it is, apparently.

- There is a balance, we have to make priorities.
- This sort of art could still be made without government support.
- It is all 'wank'.

 

[Generator]

'wank' is entirely subjective (but I agree with you in this instance). Still, much of what is produced is done so through alternative funding sources rather than with government funding (considerable government funding, anyway), so as far as I'm concerned there's no real need to worry about the nature of Government funding, especially given the tendencies of the current coalition government. However, I'm not so sure as to what the current state government under Iemma is like in this regard.

I love brackets.

 

[loquasagacious]

It is worth 23.8 million dollars, thats market value. Lol.

I agree with Moonlights comments. I certainly wouldn't spend $24M on it.

 

[SashatheMan]

so does that artwork have any meanign behind it. it is ment to mean the struggle of some minority or some other farout meaning

 

[chookyn]

hmmm ... well there's the 'T' letterform towards the base... and the whole sculpture forms the letter 'A' which could symbolise that this work isn't intended for tightasses

I think it represents relationships. The 'T' could stand for 'together' as it binds the two towers (2 diff individuals) to the base. These then drift apart, and go on their own separate journeys and come back together again. Reconciliation!

Really it could mean whatever you want it to. i'd be interested to see the artist's statement re: the meaning/intention.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

hmmm ... well there's the 'T' letterform towards the base... and the whole sculpture forms the letter 'A' which could symbolise that this work isn't intended for tightasses

Seriously though, the 'T' could stand for 'together' as it binds the two towers of objects towards the base. However these drift apart, the cubes and cylinders could represent 'phases' people go through in life.

i think it could be a representation of relationships. See there are two separate bases, they join by the letter 'T' (togetherness?) then these individuals drift apart, ago on their own separate journeys and come back together again. Or it could be a reference to history, East vs. Western worlds. But i think the former is more probable.

really it could mean whatever you want it to. i'd be interested to see the artist's statement re: the meaning/intention.

You don't really believe you're this shit do you?

 

[chookyn]

lol i just made it up then, so no.

see with contemporary work, there's more than meets the eye. contemporary artists who produce crap like this usually have very strong concepts/social commentaries behind their work that justifies its existence (although not necessarily its price, $24m is INSANE)

As a viscomm/art student i have to view and analyse stuff like this a lot. It's quite inspiring when you get into the piece, it's like a book. A visual book. You read into the surface quality, colours, shape/form, materials... etc that were used in the creation of the piece and come to conclusions as to its meaning... good fun!

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Why don't they just write a paper instead of just making some junk?