Pee, Poop and other things that I don't like to see in galleries

Today in my seminar class we discussed our values as artists. We are forced to define these values when we look at work we don't like. This is a task that Ron is having me do for Painting. I found an artist, Dash Snow, whose work I don't like with the exception of a few Polaroids.

Snow creates installations called Hamster Nests. Shredded phonebooks seem to be the bulk of the nest. The installations have been created in hotel rooms and most recently at Deitch Projects in NYC. The nests are created by the artist with collaborative help from his friends. They shred the phonebooks, tag the walls and take drugs until they create an environment fit for hamsters. (the hamsters being artist and co.) This drug induced fantasyland, when created in a hotel room (paid for by Saatchi), is left for the staff of the property to clean up which I think is really lame. Other work I've seen include Polaroid photographs. Some of these I actually enjoyed, but seeing a man sniffing coke off an erect penis...I'll pass. The newspaper clippings of police brutality with the artist spoogie splattered all over it...again, not my cup of tea.

I could come up with the regular adjectives to describe work I don't find value in, such as: sensational (but not in a glittery kinda way), juvenile, insincere, sell-out (even though I rarely believe in this notion), blah blah blah....But then i wanted to really give reasons why I don't like the work. So I'm forced to produce my list of core artistic values...as of 2/26/08

Core Artistic Values:
#1. Ethics

Artwork with piss, poo and ejaculate matter are highly questionable. IF I find work with these "materials" that actually works...I'll be shocked, but not *OMG shocked!!!*

See Dash Snow for spoogie work, Andres Serrano for piss/corpse work and Piero Manzoni for poo work. As a side note: every artist listed above is collected/exhibited by major museums/galleries... so somebody likes it. Although, I wonder if Manzoni's work wasn't about making a mockery of the art world and the only people laughing are the gallerists and artist when they cash their $$$ from selling his shit in a can (I'd like to think it was little white turds made out of plaster of paris)

• The use of corpses in artwork makes me sad and is unethical. That goes for animals too.
• Mutilation and suicide...See Viennese Actionists

TO BE CONTINUED...