One man's art is another man's WTF????

[SquarePeg37 8]

WTF2 by SharonCat..., on Flickr


This is a floating art exhibit in Boston Harbor called SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) "Meant to evoke the global refugee crisis amid unrest abroad, the featureless swimmers of SOS will all be painted “safety orange,” the same hue used in life vests." I thought it was very interesting and different but in the short time I was there taking photos I had to explain what it was to at least 10 people. One ditzy young woman actually asked us if they were real!!! I had read about it in advance of going so not sure if I would have got it myself if I had not expected it. I did think the lack of women and children refugees kept it from being even more impactful.

 

[Peeb72]

Ha! Gotta admit that this was, ummmm, unique.

 

[PersistentNomad]

I did think the lack of women and children refugees kept it from being even more impactful.

Well on your way to being the next Jerry Saltz! That really is a very thoughtful critique of the work and I'm surprised the artist and exhibit producers didn't do something about that before installation.

Overall your capture is pretty good, but I am distracted by the yacht tip near the top left. I would say you could crop the image down to take it and the swimmer beneath it out.

 

[SquarePeg37 8]

Ha! Gotta admit that this was, ummmm, unique.

Ha ha! Unique. That's almost as damning as "interesting".

I did think the lack of women and children refugees kept it from being even more impactful.

Well on your way to being the next Jerry Saltz! That really is a very thoughtful critique of the work and I'm surprised the artist and exhibit producers didn't do something about that before installation.

Overall your capture is pretty good, but I am distracted by the yacht tip near the top left. I would say you could crop the image down to take it and the swimmer beneath it out.

Thanks for your comments. Yes, it's definitely not the best photo - I just ran it through ACR and created a jpeg. The "uniqueness" of the art exhibit was really what I wanted to share - probably should have put this in the Off Topic forum.

I do have a few more creative views of the exhibit which I'll probably post later.

 

[jcdeboever]

Cool

 

[pixmedic]

my first thought was...
dang, a bunch of spider man cosplayers went for a ride in the lazy river!

photography wise, the shot is pretty cool.
as far as its message....
meh. very meh. I think they missed the mark there.
to me, it does nothing to say anything about anything.
if you had not spelled it out for me, i would never have guessed in 1000 years.

nice shot though. might consider cloning out the front of that boat on the left side.

 

[smoke665]

Was this another of those tax dollar funded art projects? LOL

 

[Gary A.]

This is interesting (lol). I find everything but the little red guys to be distracting. I'd crop down to the edge of the pier shadow and clone out the nose of the boat. I put those little red guys in the middle of the image.

 

[Designer]

"Meant to evoke the global refugee crisis amid unrest abroad,

I call BS with a capital BS!

This "artist" needs to find a job that doesn't involve making up a totally BS theme. No "intent" at all would have been better than the one he grabbed on his way out the door.

 

[SquarePeg37 8]

my first thought was...
dang, a bunch of spider man cosplayers went for a ride in the lazy river!

photography wise, the shot is pretty cool.
as far as its message....
meh. very meh. I think they missed the mark there.
to me, it does nothing to say anything about anything.
if you had not spelled it out for me, i would never have guessed in 1000 years.

nice shot though. might consider cloning out the front of that boat on the left side though.

Agree that it was pretty incomprehensible unless you had read about it in advance. There was no sign explaining the exhibit (that I saw anyway). Here's a crappy edit on the photo:

WTF2_edited-1 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

 

[SquarePeg37 8]

Was this another of those tax dollar funded art projects? LOL

I would love to know the answer to that! I'm going to see if I can find out.

 

[Designer]

Was this another of those tax dollar funded art projects? LOL

I'll lay dollars to doughnuts.

There is no way this could be funded without taxpayer funds.

 

[PersistentNomad]

Was this another of those tax dollar funded art projects? LOL

I'll lay dollars to doughnuts.

There is no way this could be funded without taxpayer funds.

Okay, having worked for arts organizations that use tax dollars, the quasi-negative attitude of these two comments is a serious problem. The fact that at least one potential tourist who is interested in the arts (me) is hearing and talking about this piece means that the objective for receiving those dollars is achieved- driving culture visitors' interest to Massachusetts. Not sure how many people know this, but the cultural tourism industry is one of the biggest economic pillars in Massachusetts. Without events like this and the visitors they draw, Mass would be in even sorrier shape financially. For every dollar the MCC spends on cultural projects, the state sees $7 spent by people on food, hotels and shopping, supporting local businesses and jobs.
Not liking the art is one thing, scoffing that tax dollars paid for it is not cool.

 

[smoke665]

Not liking the art is one thing, scoffing that tax dollars paid for it is not cool.

I've always believed that there are certain things that are within the scope of government, and others that should be funded by private sources. Rather than drift into the realm of a political post I'm bowing out of any further comment on this.

 

[Otto von Chriek]

Thats modern "art" for you! Complete nonsense, surrounded by the unimaginative and thoughtless.