With an intent to discover what true people’s art would look like, Kolmar and Melmaid, a Russian collaborative artist team, created a research survey for their project for the most wanted and most unwanted paintings in fourteen countries. In 1994, they began the process which resulted in America's Most Wanted and America's Least Wanted paintings, which were exhibited in New York at the Alternative Museum under the title "People's Choice." The Most Wanted work is perhaps the most ironic and cliché painting of all. Roughly “dishwasher sized”, the piece features a misty outdoor scene with a mountain, trees, a deer, children and of course George Washington. The Least Wanted, on the other hand, is paperback sized, abstract, geometric, with bold primary colors and no distinguishable figures. As for the thirteen other countries, all but two had a similar aesthetic to that of America’s most and least wanted: An outdoor scene with water and a mountain, non-domestic wildlife (be it a moose in Canada or a Hippo in Kenya), children playing, and some sort of national figure or symbol. Exhibited again in the eleven other countries, the least wanted paintings were geometric, non-figurative abstract works. Once completed the least wanted paintings were deemed the more successful, innovative, and aesthetically pleasing by those surveyed when asked to choose which one they liked best.

Posted July 14, 2014 17:02

July 14, 2014 16:28

Lunch Breaks in Double Overtime

A dancer openly rehearses on stage as the sound of applause erupts the normally peaceful museum courtyard, but they’re not clapping for her. There is a frenzy of activity all over the museum and the city due to FIFA madness and I don’t want it to end. I’ve watched every game. Let me repeat that with excessive punctuation. Every.Game. And with passion too, I feel like I deserve a World Cup. This comes at a complete surprise to me as I am someone who never really latched on to ‘sports’ in general. When I hear the words “race, match, or game” I legitimately think of elections and political games before all else. I mean what am I doing religiously watching other nations compete in a sport I’m just starting to understand? (I’ve seen She’s the Man and Bend it Like Beckham so many times that I can probably quote the films backwards but I just learned what off-sides was during the final game). Even during American Football season at the University of Southern California but I spent most games either, inebriated, or too worried about sick photo ops with my festive body paint.

Posted July 14, 2014 16:28