Seed Art: An Excercise
in Pseudo-Academic Bullshit
Another year at the always-glorious Minnesota State Fair
means another year of livestock, rednecks, and most of all,
the intriguing seed art phenomenon. Last year, I made fun
of seed art, not out of malice, but out of my not realizing
the important kind of artistic force it represented. But
this year, my eyes were opened. Seed art has come into its
own as an artistic medium, and deserves the kind of
analysis befitting of the avant-garde. Without giving
today's modern seed art respectful examination as an
important new medium, we may lose one of today's most
vibrant and important forms of expression. Could we have
had have post-impressionism without recognizing the work of
Cézanne? Would we have Surrealism if no one had read
Breton's manifesto? I think not, and this is why, today, we
take a critical look at the seed art movement.
This piece appears to be in the style of the absurdist Dada
movement. The juxtaposition of underwater images with power
tools creates a bizarre, somewhat surreal image not unlike
some of Marcel DuChamp's most important works. You may
notice an undercurrent of race relations in this work, with
the snails, who are described as boring, subjugating the
clams with technology. Perhaps a comment on imperialism,
with the white man and his technology and sterile culture
imposing his will on the decidedly non-boring indigenous
peoples? Truly, the artist has expanded on mere absurdism
and casts a culturally revolutionary light on what appears
at first glance to be merely a humorous work.
He we have a work that is very ambiguous, either political,
or perhaps a commentary on celebrity. As you can see in the
below comparison, this is either a a picture of popular
actor William H. Macy, or US Ambassador to the UN John
Bolton.
But instead of thinking of this work as an either one
specifically, consider the piece as a combination of the
two. By making the subject vague, and able to be
interpreted as either Macy or Bolton, the artists creates a
very poignant statement about the culture of celebrity that
is now invading politics. It is the combination, not Macy
or Bolton alone (and by extension, not media or government
individually) that is truly the seed of our destruction.
Also, the artist uses a pun about seeds. Kudos to the
artist.
In this piece, the artist mixes mediums to create the
message contained within the work. She defies the organic
confines of seed art by including tinfoil creating a
powerful statement not only about nature versus technology,
but also challenging the rigidity of the art form. The work
is extremely aggressive; a psychotic, fiery-haired valkyrie
practically attacks the observer in gesture and medium,
highlighting the use of metal in the piece. The Subject,
almost nihilistically violent with jolly-roger emblazoned
forehead, is willing to use technology to subdue all
comers, abandoning naturalism in exchange for cold, hard
steel. A terrifyingly powerful work.
Here we see an interesting musing on pop culture and
religion, a seed representation of the recent grilled
cheese sandwich purported to have a burned-in image of the
virgin mother. This piece skirts the boundaries between
sculpture and the more two-dimensional mediums.
Interestingly, the image of Mary is very representational
and easily recognized, unlike the original slice of bread,
which even the most devout believer would have to squint to
see. The artist is showing us that, even though an item as
ridiculous a sacred slice of bread, we must not discount
the divinity ascribed to such an object by the most
stalwartly pious. The artist is condemning us for mocking
those who see religion where we see only carbonized bread.
This is a much less mature work from an artist who clearly
knows nothing about the subtlety that can come from
carefully crafted art. The attempt at a political message
is so blatant as to be nearly comical, using the kind of
slogan one might see at a peace march or on a bumper
sticker. Political art is at its most powerful when the
message is not immediately apparent, and subconsciously
invades the viewer's head, where the seeds of dissent take
root. The choice of a cereal box for the vessel of the
work's trite message is also completely baffling. Is cereal
defined only by its box shape and prize inside? This might
be a reasonable choice in a work about agriculture, but
here, neither seed nor cereal has anything to do with the
president. The artist's creative and political
sensibilities have a lot of maturing to do before they can
be recognized with these other masterpieces of seed art.
Indeed, seed art is truly populist, reaching a broad
audience largely unconcerned with the more pretentious art
forms occupying elitist modern art institutions. Even the
most common of man can appreciate the profound cultural and
political messages contained within these bold works
without an art history degree. For that, we salute seed
art, and the aesthetic revolution it will inevitably cause.
Thank you for putting up with this, my meditation on
pseudo-academic bullshit. Any time I hear anyone talking
like this it makes me cringe, and I hope it did the same
for you. I just wanted to make sure that these kinds of
deep, expert analyses could be pulled out of the ass of
anyone with even half a brain, and lo and behold, here we
are. Christ, I hate art.