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they did the joke (hexbear.net)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by happybadger@hexbear.net to c/art@hexbear.net

https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/1bpaiae/shoot_um_moma_what_is_this/

Rothko's Untitled. I don't like abstract expressionism but he's probably the technical height of it from how much work actually went into that.

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[-] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 17 points 7 months ago

fuck the cia fuck all their artists and fuck defending this garbage.

For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html

[-] PapaEmeritusIII@hexbear.net 10 points 7 months ago

According to the article you linked, the artists weren’t aware that the CIA was using them

[-] utopologist@hexbear.net 23 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They weren't aware, that's correct. I cannot fucking stand the online reactionary stance on modern art I see from leftists; abstract expressionism was promoted by the west strictly because it was the opposite of the official Soviet line on art, which was socialist realism, not because of the ideological content of the art itself. It's beyond intellectually lazy to be opposed to abstract art because of that.

Standing in front of a Mark Rothko painting was almost a fucking spiritual experience for me, not because of the capitalist messages hidden inside but because of the depth of color and texture that fills the perception

[-] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 12 points 7 months ago

Standing in front of a Mark Rothko painting was almost a fucking spiritual experience for me, not because of the capitalist messages hidden inside but because of the depth of color and texture that fills the perception

jesse-wtf

[-] PapaEmeritusIII@hexbear.net 11 points 7 months ago

It’s not a hard sentence to understand. I guess this is your first time encountering someone who likes art that you don’t like

[-] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 2 points 7 months ago

there's different tastes and then there's what you said. I don't like coffee, but it's comprehensible to me that someone would.

[-] CA0311@hexbear.net 4 points 7 months ago
[-] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 1 points 7 months ago

no, but if I took it and looked at some garbage and felt something i'd attribute it to the drug, not the object.

[-] TechnoUnionTypeBeat@hexbear.net 9 points 7 months ago

New tagline dropped

[-] ProfessorAdonisCnut@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago

Isn't it also largely because the early CIA/OSS was populated largely by Ivy Leaguers, with the associated cultural norms and biases?

[-] PapaEmeritusIII@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Reinventing the concept of d*generate art but making it leftist this time

Edit: Slur filter broke the wikipedia link. But you can find it if you search “d*generate art”

[-] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago

Thinking that because the CIA did something it was smart and effective, they do a tonneau of dumb silly shit thst goes no where.

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this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2024
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