A Masterpiece for Our Time
As should be clear to any reader, I am a connoisseur of fine art. While my taste tends to run toward the old masters, and some cubist and impressionist thrown in for good measure, I am often skeptical of new artists who want to break the bonds of artistic traditionalism by finding new, heretofore unseen ways of expressing themselves. Pffaw.
Plus, it is my hope to be deemed as worthy of fine taste as my heroes, Dan Hull and Oliver Holden, who commonly use What About Paris? to demonstrate their exceptional appreciation of fine art, leaving the rest of us to wallow in our Philistine dust. They have moxie.
With that firmly in mind, I offer what I believe to be the quintessential painting of our time. By artist Lucian Freud, "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping." This modern day Mona Lisa sold for $33.6 million at Christie's auction house in London on May 13, 2008, setting a record for the most money paid for a work by a living artist.
No other image has captured the soul of our time as this.
Some may recall my post about the "Official Woman." Little did I know at the time that Freud knew her too, and would paint her essence on canvas. This, dear readers, is fine art for our age. Think about it.
Plus, it is my hope to be deemed as worthy of fine taste as my heroes, Dan Hull and Oliver Holden, who commonly use What About Paris? to demonstrate their exceptional appreciation of fine art, leaving the rest of us to wallow in our Philistine dust. They have moxie.
With that firmly in mind, I offer what I believe to be the quintessential painting of our time. By artist Lucian Freud, "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping." This modern day Mona Lisa sold for $33.6 million at Christie's auction house in London on May 13, 2008, setting a record for the most money paid for a work by a living artist.
No other image has captured the soul of our time as this.
Some may recall my post about the "Official Woman." Little did I know at the time that Freud knew her too, and would paint her essence on canvas. This, dear readers, is fine art for our age. Think about it.
$33.6 mill for a painting of a naked old ugly fat chick? How much for one of her daughter? Lucien Freud? Lucian Fraud I reckon.
For that kind of money you could pay my fee-note, on a medium sized case only - natch.
Reply to this
Now rest your eyes.
http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Painters-Honeymoon.html
Reply to this
Those two are drawing dirty pictures together.
Reply to this
They are reading dirty stories on Geeklawyer, and remarking to one another how your stories evoke deep emotions.
Reply to this
Let your imagination roam.
Reply to this
Mom?
Reply to this
You are disgusting. And now even your Mom doesn't like you.
Reply to this
At least Norm didn't subject his unsuspecting fans and friends to this image on a sunny Sunday. Nor did he say, "Mom, you've lost weight!"
Reply to this
"I paint what I see, not what you want me to see". 86-year-old Lucien Freud really IS a big deal in Europe, and a darling of the screw-it-the-money-ran-out-so-I'll-pretend-I'm-a-poet crowd up in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Were it not for your post, Scott, many Americans would continue to believe that "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" is merely the July rendering for the 2008 "Women We Love" Calendar popular in Western Pennsylvania.
$33 million: enough to keep Holden in teak swizzlesticks for another decade.
Reply to this
Don't be so hard on Lucien Freud. Ugly is the new black, and rarely has a social commentary been so . . . ugly. As for Holden, I suggest he start with paint-by-numbers and work his way up. I'm sure his efforts will be duly rewarded in time.
Reply to this