It is not uncommon to happen upon subversive art in the mainstream. You can find the provocative work of R. Crumb, Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe smuggled into the background of films, or, in many cases, outright adapted as a feature (à la Ralph Bakshi's take on Crumb's "Fritz the Cat"). What you don't expect is to throw on a network evening soap opera and notice that a character's pillowcase is adorned with a design pattern of unrolled condoms -- especially in the 1990s.
MacArthur "genius grant"-winning artist Mel Chin thought the same thing 30 years ago while teaching art simultaneously at CalTech and the University of Georgia. Inspired by the notion of product placement exploding across movie and television screens all over the world, Chin wondered what would happen if he could sneak a conceptually contentious piece of art into the background of an otherwise apolitical show.
MacArthur "genius grant"-winning artist Mel Chin thought the same thing 30 years ago while teaching art simultaneously at CalTech and the University of Georgia. Inspired by the notion of product placement exploding across movie and television screens all over the world, Chin wondered what would happen if he could sneak a conceptually contentious piece of art into the background of an otherwise apolitical show.
- 12/16/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Jimmy Carr knows a thing or two about controversy. Think of the time, earlier this year, when a chronically ill-judged Holocaust joke about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community saw him showered with condemnation. Or when he joked about Reeva Steenkamp’s murder at the 2014 Q Awards. Or his infamous tax avoidance scandal. All this might make him seem like an apt choice to host Channel 4’s new programme, Jimmy Carr Destroys Art. But is he?
The TV special, airing tonight, sees the lewd-lipped comedian debate the moral merits of selected artworks created by “problematic artists”. Under the spotlight: Adolf Hitler. Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris. Sculptor and incestuous abuser Eric Gill. And Pablo Picasso, whose historical treatment of women has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Jimmy Carr Destroys Art might sound like the hooky title of a YouTube compilation video – “Jimmy Carr Destroys heckler” or “Jimmy Carr...
The TV special, airing tonight, sees the lewd-lipped comedian debate the moral merits of selected artworks created by “problematic artists”. Under the spotlight: Adolf Hitler. Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris. Sculptor and incestuous abuser Eric Gill. And Pablo Picasso, whose historical treatment of women has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Jimmy Carr Destroys Art might sound like the hooky title of a YouTube compilation video – “Jimmy Carr Destroys heckler” or “Jimmy Carr...
- 10/25/2022
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - TV
If Reverend Donald Wildmon of the far-right American Family Association was to be believed in 1991, the United States government had, via the National Endowment for the Arts, financed gay porn. The movie in question was Todd Haynes' "Poison," a triptych of short stories riffing on the work of homosexual writer Jean Genet, and, you probably won't be surprised to learn, was as far from a skin flick as "A Man for All Seasons." The truth, however, didn't matter. That Haynes' was an out gay flmmaker who'd received taxpayer money to make a movie examining the "panicky fright" of a society that could not, for the most part, accept the strangeness (i.e. non-straightness) of their fellow human beings infuriated religious bigots like Wildmon. They could sense the cultural tide was turning against them, so they rallied their hateful base to protest a handful of drop-in-the-bucket government grants.
"Poison" was just...
"Poison" was just...
- 9/20/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
The provocative artist has made a shocking new ‘immersive experience’ for the one year anniversary of the 6 January attack
Andres Serrano is not known as an especially political artist. The 71-year-old’s photographs are more accurately described as transgressive, perennially summed up with a singular point of reference: Piss Christ, his 1987 photo of a crucifix submerged in his own orange-tinted urine, which has over the years sparked multiple instances of national outrage. In the photographic series that followed, including The Klan (1990), The Morgue (1992), Shit (2007), and Nudes (2009), Serrano’s work has remained as provocative as it is aptly named.
“I like to make the kind of pictures where you don’t need much more than the title to tell you what you’re looking at,” the artist said over the phone. As for his perpetual association with a single, 34-year-old work of art, he doesn’t mind: “Piss Christ is a...
Andres Serrano is not known as an especially political artist. The 71-year-old’s photographs are more accurately described as transgressive, perennially summed up with a singular point of reference: Piss Christ, his 1987 photo of a crucifix submerged in his own orange-tinted urine, which has over the years sparked multiple instances of national outrage. In the photographic series that followed, including The Klan (1990), The Morgue (1992), Shit (2007), and Nudes (2009), Serrano’s work has remained as provocative as it is aptly named.
“I like to make the kind of pictures where you don’t need much more than the title to tell you what you’re looking at,” the artist said over the phone. As for his perpetual association with a single, 34-year-old work of art, he doesn’t mind: “Piss Christ is a...
- 1/7/2022
- by Janelle Zara
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s no secret that romantic comedies have a major technology problem. Around the same time multiplexes became too clogged with Marvel sequels to make room for “the next ‘Notting Hill,’ modern love began migrating to the decidedly un-cinematic realm of dating apps. The ubiquity of Tinder and its ilk started to confront rom-coms with some of the same logistical headaches that have been haunting slasher movies for the last two decades.
For better or worse, the world is changing faster than Richard Curtis could ever hope to keep up with. And though the digital age might seem perfectly suited for candied stories about people who construct Jenga towers of lies in order to make someone like them, the rare movies that try to Frankenstein together 21st-century rom-coms from the rubble of 20th-century screenplays tend to do so with all the grace of a mad scientist or a massive content farm,...
For better or worse, the world is changing faster than Richard Curtis could ever hope to keep up with. And though the digital age might seem perfectly suited for candied stories about people who construct Jenga towers of lies in order to make someone like them, the rare movies that try to Frankenstein together 21st-century rom-coms from the rubble of 20th-century screenplays tend to do so with all the grace of a mad scientist or a massive content farm,...
- 11/5/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The “Watchmen” pilot episode dropped a bombshell on American history: Oscar winner and Sundance Film Festival co-founder Robert Redford is the President of the United States and has been for 26 years and counting. Any “Watchmen” fan wondering over the last five weeks how Redford becoming the U.S. president changed the course of movie history is in luck thanks to /Film, which spoke to showrunner Damon Lindelof and got all the details one could possibly want on the topic.
When it comes to the Sundance Film Festival, Redford stepped down and left the Sundance organization in 1993 because he feared “that his political enemies would accuse him of using the institution as a mechanism for promoting his political agenda in the culture.” As U.S. president, Redford stayed committed to the arts by hiring acclaimed photographer Andres Serrano “to rebuild the National Endowment for the Arts following decades of reduction and...
When it comes to the Sundance Film Festival, Redford stepped down and left the Sundance organization in 1993 because he feared “that his political enemies would accuse him of using the institution as a mechanism for promoting his political agenda in the culture.” As U.S. president, Redford stayed committed to the arts by hiring acclaimed photographer Andres Serrano “to rebuild the National Endowment for the Arts following decades of reduction and...
- 11/20/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
After years of legal wrangling, Lance Armstrong finally settled the $100 million fraud lawsuit filed against him by the U.S. Postal Service — he will pay $5 million to the federal government and another $1.65 million to cover legal costs incurred by former teammate and whistleblower Floyd Landis — and the sale of his Austin, Texas, mansion, now up for grabs at $7.5 million, would certainly help towards pulling together the funds required to pay his restitutions. The once globally celebrated pedal pusher, who had his seven Tour de France titles stripped from him and was barred for life from Olympic sports in 2012 after it was determined he’d used performance enhancing drugs, purchased the stately Central Austin spread for an unrecorded amount from longtime Democratic Party mover and shaker Ben Barnes in May of 2013, just months after he admitted in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey he had, in fact, doped for all seven...
- 4/20/2018
- by Mark David
- Variety Film + TV
It’s not just Big Bird who may be out of a job soon.
Donald Trump announced plans to eliminate government funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Endowment for the Arts in his proposed 2018 budget plan, all while increasing military spending by $54 billion.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives roughly $445 million on government appropriations, provides funding to NPR and PBS, as well as smaller individual stations around the country. Public broadcasting advocates say it these smaller stations and channels that will feel these cuts the most.
Read More: Stephen Colbert Teases Rachel Maddow For Teasing The Country About Trump Tax Returns — Watch
The proposed budget cuts also would eliminate all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. While the Nea and Neh have endured their share attacks over the years, including the Jesse Helms-led outcry over the funding...
Donald Trump announced plans to eliminate government funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Endowment for the Arts in his proposed 2018 budget plan, all while increasing military spending by $54 billion.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives roughly $445 million on government appropriations, provides funding to NPR and PBS, as well as smaller individual stations around the country. Public broadcasting advocates say it these smaller stations and channels that will feel these cuts the most.
Read More: Stephen Colbert Teases Rachel Maddow For Teasing The Country About Trump Tax Returns — Watch
The proposed budget cuts also would eliminate all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. While the Nea and Neh have endured their share attacks over the years, including the Jesse Helms-led outcry over the funding...
- 3/16/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
On Thursday morning, February 28, I found CNN featuring a continuous shot of a helicopter. The network cut between a close-up and a distant dot. It was Benedict, flying from the Vatican City. This was extraordinary attention for an ordinary cardinal, because as Benedict told the throng awaiting him, "I am no longer Pope." I am not a scholar of Catholic history, but I believe we were witnessing the first time the Papal throne was vacant while an elected Pope was alive.
"This no one can deny," wise Sister Rosanne told us during the 8 am theology class that began every day at St. Mary's Grade School. "The Church is the oldest continuously functioning institution in human history, and the Popes go back in an unbroken chain to St. Peter's blessing at the hand of Jesus." That was one reason people of all faiths or none desired an audience with the Pope.
"This no one can deny," wise Sister Rosanne told us during the 8 am theology class that began every day at St. Mary's Grade School. "The Church is the oldest continuously functioning institution in human history, and the Popes go back in an unbroken chain to St. Peter's blessing at the hand of Jesus." That was one reason people of all faiths or none desired an audience with the Pope.
- 5/14/2013
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
On Thursday morning, February 28, I found CNN featuring a continuous shot of a helicopter. The network cut between a close-up and a distant dot. It was Benedict, flying from the Vatican City. This was extraordinary attention for an ordinary cardinal, because as Benedict told the throng awaiting him, "I am no longer Pope." I am not a scholar of Catholic history, but I believe we were witnessing the first time the Papal throne was vacant while an elected Pope was alive.
"This no one can deny," wise Sister Rosanne told us during the 8 am theology class that began every day at St. Mary's Grade School. "The Church is the oldest continuously functioning institution in human history, and the Popes go back in an unbroken chain to St. Peter's blessing at the hand of Jesus." That was one reason people of all faiths or none desired an audience with the Pope.
"This no one can deny," wise Sister Rosanne told us during the 8 am theology class that began every day at St. Mary's Grade School. "The Church is the oldest continuously functioning institution in human history, and the Popes go back in an unbroken chain to St. Peter's blessing at the hand of Jesus." That was one reason people of all faiths or none desired an audience with the Pope.
- 3/4/2013
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Claiming he's out to make a point about hypocrisy and double standards, Glenn Beck submerged a bobblehead of President Obama in fake urine and hopes to sell it as art. Anyone else think he just thought it would be fun? Beck said on his own TheBlazeTV on Tuesday that he was responding to a painting called "Truth" by artist "Michael D'Antuono, which portrays Obama crucified with a crown of thorns. But he was also responding, 25 years late, to the Andres Serrano photograph "Piss Christ," which was at the center of a...
- 11/28/2012
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
Get it? It’s a commentary on… something. And an indication that 25 years later, outrage manufacturer Glenn Beck is still feeling salty about Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ.” Also: he’s very well-hydrated. Update: Beck’s artwork has been removed from eBay, where he was attempting to auction it off for $25,000; the website said in a letter that it does not allow the sale of bodily waste or references to bodily fluids in listings.
Okay, some background: On Tuesday, Beck got wind of a painting hanging in a community college’s art gallery that depicts President Obama crucified on the presidential seal,...
Okay, some background: On Tuesday, Beck got wind of a painting hanging in a community college’s art gallery that depicts President Obama crucified on the presidential seal,...
- 11/28/2012
- by Hillary Busis
- EW.com - PopWatch
Episode Number: 7038 (March 22, 2011)
Guests: Ayman Mohyeldin
Segments: Californians Respond to Japanese Disaster, Stephen Colbert’s Raging Art-On – Art 2, Crisis in the Middle Everywhere – CNN And Fox News Fight in Libya
Videos: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Has everyone texted 90999 to donate to the Red Cross yet? I texted them this morning – thanks for the reminder, Stephen! Has anyone sent Stephen naked pictures yet? Bad Zoner! *flogs with wet noodle* He’s a married man! And it’s Lent, for heaven’s sake!
I don’t talk about my day job much on this blog, because let’s face it, it’s quite boring – I am a sales administrator for a company that rents electrical and environmental test equipment. But for the first time, well, ever I’m pretty sure, Stephen talked about an issue that is affecting my job. One of the devices that our environmental division rents is radiation testing. And we...
Guests: Ayman Mohyeldin
Segments: Californians Respond to Japanese Disaster, Stephen Colbert’s Raging Art-On – Art 2, Crisis in the Middle Everywhere – CNN And Fox News Fight in Libya
Videos: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Has everyone texted 90999 to donate to the Red Cross yet? I texted them this morning – thanks for the reminder, Stephen! Has anyone sent Stephen naked pictures yet? Bad Zoner! *flogs with wet noodle* He’s a married man! And it’s Lent, for heaven’s sake!
I don’t talk about my day job much on this blog, because let’s face it, it’s quite boring – I am a sales administrator for a company that rents electrical and environmental test equipment. But for the first time, well, ever I’m pretty sure, Stephen talked about an issue that is affecting my job. One of the devices that our environmental division rents is radiation testing. And we...
- 3/24/2011
- by DB
- No Fact Zone
Filed under: Reality-Free, TV Replay
It was a big day on 'The Colbert Report' (Weeknights, 11:30 Pm Et on Comedy Central), as a Stephen Colbert self-portrait entitled 'Portrait 5, Stephen(s)' was auctioned off at the Phillips de Pury & Company auction house for the benefit of the children's charity DonorsChoose.org.
Renowned artists Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano had each added little flourishes to the portrait, boosting its potential value, but the bidding stalled at $22,000. At that point, Colbert took the podium, grabbing the mic from the auctioneer.
"I like to apologize for Phil, he's not asking enough money from all of you and it's insulting to all of you who I know must have more money than this," Colbert told the room. "Remember we are doing this for children ... So if you are not raising your paddle, it means you hate children."
Permalink | Email this...
It was a big day on 'The Colbert Report' (Weeknights, 11:30 Pm Et on Comedy Central), as a Stephen Colbert self-portrait entitled 'Portrait 5, Stephen(s)' was auctioned off at the Phillips de Pury & Company auction house for the benefit of the children's charity DonorsChoose.org.
Renowned artists Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano had each added little flourishes to the portrait, boosting its potential value, but the bidding stalled at $22,000. At that point, Colbert took the podium, grabbing the mic from the auctioneer.
"I like to apologize for Phil, he's not asking enough money from all of you and it's insulting to all of you who I know must have more money than this," Colbert told the room. "Remember we are doing this for children ... So if you are not raising your paddle, it means you hate children."
Permalink | Email this...
- 3/24/2011
- by Jeremy Taylor
- Aol TV.
The Colbert Report Portrait 5, Stephen(s)
Promptly six minutes before 2 p.m., Stephen Colbert stood perfectly still in the wings above the auction floor at Phillips de Pury & Company on Park Avenue. A clip from “The Colbert Report” episode featuring Steve Martin, Frank Stella, Andres Serrano and Shepard Fairey that aired last December was playing. In that episode, Colbert attempts to sell Martin, an avid art collector, a portrait of the media personality created by Colbert, Fairey, Stella and Serrano.
Promptly six minutes before 2 p.m., Stephen Colbert stood perfectly still in the wings above the auction floor at Phillips de Pury & Company on Park Avenue. A clip from “The Colbert Report” episode featuring Steve Martin, Frank Stella, Andres Serrano and Shepard Fairey that aired last December was playing. In that episode, Colbert attempts to sell Martin, an avid art collector, a portrait of the media personality created by Colbert, Fairey, Stella and Serrano.
- 3/8/2011
- by Alexandra Cheney
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Stephen Colbert is pleased to announce the auction of Portrait 5, Stephen(s), a noted work of portraiture attributed to the host, enhanced by the artistic contributions of Shepard Fairey who spray-painted it, Andres Serrano who Sharpie’d it, and Frank Stella who glanced at it.
The Phillips de Pury & Company auction of the portrait will take place at 450 Park Avenue in New York City on Tuesday, March 8 with proceeds to benefit school arts projects through DonorsChoose.org, an online charity connecting donors to classrooms in need. The auction will be taped and air in a future episode of “The Colbert Report.”
Read more...
The Phillips de Pury & Company auction of the portrait will take place at 450 Park Avenue in New York City on Tuesday, March 8 with proceeds to benefit school arts projects through DonorsChoose.org, an online charity connecting donors to classrooms in need. The auction will be taped and air in a future episode of “The Colbert Report.”
Read more...
- 2/7/2011
- Look to the Stars
Welcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of cultural references on The Colbert Report. From Darcy to Danger Mouse, String Theory to Shakespeare, we’ve got the keys to this week’s obscure, oddball, and occasionally obscene cultural shout-outs (hey!)
Hola Zoners! I hope your December is coming along nicely! I can’t believe 2010 is almost over! This week was a regular fruit cake of pop culture references – chock full of staying power, but without the gastrointestinal consequences. Wednesday’s show with Steve Martin was especially fun. I enjoy seeing artists branch out into other genres. The humorous back and forth between Steve and Stephen over what defines art -as well as the contributions of great artists such as Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano- certainly solidified it as a favorite of mine. What was your favorite moment of the week?
Monday: Cosmo Is Available in Mongolia...
Hola Zoners! I hope your December is coming along nicely! I can’t believe 2010 is almost over! This week was a regular fruit cake of pop culture references – chock full of staying power, but without the gastrointestinal consequences. Wednesday’s show with Steve Martin was especially fun. I enjoy seeing artists branch out into other genres. The humorous back and forth between Steve and Stephen over what defines art -as well as the contributions of great artists such as Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano- certainly solidified it as a favorite of mine. What was your favorite moment of the week?
Monday: Cosmo Is Available in Mongolia...
- 12/13/2010
- by Toad
- No Fact Zone
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