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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Early Morning Open Thread — Artsy Fartsy Edition

Early Morning Open Thread — Artsy Fartsy Edition

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Artists tend to use the materials close at hand to create their masterworks, which explains all those lovely Italian Renaissance sculptures carved in Carrara marble.

At my backyard tiki bar, the abundant resource is wine foil — you know, that heavy foil that must be removed from the top of the bottle to expose the cork prior to decanting. Here’s a wine foil sculpture of a chicken:

And here’s a foil art tribute to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which recently sold for $120 million. (The original, not the tribute, for which bids are currently being entertained.)

Bonus wino points to whoever can name the winery that produced “The Scream” foil. Please discuss whatever.

PS: If you’re in North Carolina, vote NO.

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  2. 2.

    RSA

    That first picture should be accompanied by a voiceover from Edward James Olmos.

  3. 3.

    Halcyan

    Not ravenswood… it looks like one of those australian wines! But I never remember the name of anything :( Getting old kind of sucks.

  7. 7.

    EdTheRed

    @Halcyan: No, it’s Ravenswood…I’m looking at the foil from the bottle of Ravenswood we drank last night, and it’s a dead ringer. Well, mine doesn’t resemble a $120 million work of art, but the birds look identical.

  8. 8.

    THE

    Why did the chicken cross the road?

    – To get to the liquor store.

    What came first the chicken or the egg?

    – The cork.

  9. 9.

    danielx

    Speaking of artsy-fartsy, the fine young men at Sadly, No! have once more proved themselves to be graphics geniuses as well as truly virulent commentators.

    http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/36971.html

    I mean, sure, their blind following of their authoritarian impulses and the reduction of life into a sports match between “two teams” you support no matter what, has led to some unthinkable public choices in recent years, but there is some spark of life in the old wingnut hind brain.

    They do recognize that there are still lines that they dare not cross. You don’t just up and kill people… unless they happen to support legal medical practices that happen to help women. You don’t openly support the KKK… unless they dress in 1700s cosplay and call themselves Teabaggers. And you don’t openly masturbate about how rugged and handsome and manly serial killers are…

    Phew. I was really afraid that-

    I honestly can’t decide what turns me on more. Breivik’s Nordic good looks and striking political philosophies or the very thought of liberals being forced to betray their principles.

    Sonuvabitch!

    Well, why the fuck not? I mean, conservatives have basically been tripping over their own balls (an impressive feat to be sure) to be the first one to abandon any semblance of humanity so as to be the “pure conservative” free from any filthy connection to the “corruption” of liberalism.

    I may have to have a cigarette after reading that post. A thing of beauty and a joy forever.

  10. 10.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Halcyan:

    Getting old kind of sucks.

    Yep. I know I have to run harder just to sort of stay in the same place. The alternative of course . . . .

    Animals are easier to understand though. There’s that.

  11. 11.

    danielx

    @Linda Featheringill:

    It does suck, wondering what new pain or malfunctioning part will drag itself into your consciousness every morning. Right now it’s my left elbow. That would be the one that I fell and landed on with all my weight on a sidewalk about two eons ago, and which now aches like a sonofabitch especially when the weather changes…like now.

  12. 12.

    Phylllis

    @THE: Heh. Sorta related- Overheard at the Tall Ships event in Savannah this past weekend: Why did Captain Hook cross the road? To get to the second hand store.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    This was just posted on TPM livewire according to Romney and the auto-bailout..“I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back,” Romney said. link

    My own view, by the way, was that the auto companies needed to go through bankruptcy before government help. And frankly, that’s finally what the president did. He finally took them through bankruptcy. That was the right course I argued for from the very beginning.

    Surely the media will call him a serial liar or at least point out that he was against the government bailout…

    I have a feeling that this political season there will be lots of bottles of wine drunk.

  14. 14.

    J.

    Next you’ll be showing us your stool sample.

    So, when are you opening a shop on Etsy, Betty? I think wine foil sculpture could be the next big indie art trend.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    On the bus going to the dermatologist in D.C. Awful parking in Foggy Bottom, so I’m riding. Maybe treat myself to lunch someplace nice. That is all.

  19. 19.

    Brian R.

    @JPL:

    Ah, you beat me to it.

    I’m not sure what’s more breathtaking — the ballsiness of the statement that Romney’s “Let Them Go Bankrupt” article, with its call for a managed bankruptcy that all experts say was impossible in 2008, was what wound up happening; or the ballsiness of taking credit for this thing Obama did at the exact same moment his campaign is howling about Obama taking credit for something Obama did.

    Just staggering. This needs to be flogged, early and often.

  20. 20.

    jibeaux

    @Phylllis: Now that sounds lovely. Tried the one in NC five or so years ago, it was a complete disaster organizationally.

    And I already voted no! Filled the circle in EXTRA DARK AND WITH A PERFECT PERIMETER too.

  22. 22.

    Brian R.

    Just watched the Romney video in full.

    He also tells the interviewer that his vision of economic recovery is one in which right-to-work states will do especially well. As far as I know, Ohio ain’t one. Wow.

  23. 23.

    handsmile

    Sad news to begin the day: the NYT is reporting that Maurice Sendak, visionary author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are and numerous other children’s books, has died at 83.

    Here is a link to a wonderful interview with Sendak, “I refuse to lie to children,” that was published in the Guardian last October.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/02/maurice-sendak-interview

    Another beacon extinguished.

  27. 27.

    handsmile

    “The Scream” that sold at auction last week for the disgusting sum of $120 million is one of four versions (two in oils, two in pastels-the Sotheby’s item was the first of those two) painted by Edvard Munch. Munch’s original title for all four works was “The Scream of Nature.” He also created a lithographic series of the image.

    The auctioned painting was and remains the only one in private ownership. The other three are on display in museums in Norway. That is, when they’re not being stolen or retrieved by police.

    As the image has long achieved Supreme Kitsch status (the plastic blow-up version is a favorite of mine), I can only be grateful for its interpretation in foil or other inexpensive material.

  28. 28.

    StringonaStick

    Maurice Sendak’s interviews on Fresh Air with Terri Gross were wonderful too; brought many a tear to my eye.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @handsmile: I used to have a blow-up Scream that a friend bought for me at a museum. I kept it on the stairway landing in my old apartment — a very dark stairwell it was, too — and it used to scare the shit out of unsuspecting visitors who were just trying to find the damn bathroom for crissake! I’d still have it if a dog hadn’t got ahold of it and punctured it beyond repair…

  31. 31.

    Schlemizel

    Speaking of artsy fartsy – anybody red the stuff about how dinosaur farts caused climate change that killed off the dinos?

    I will gladly bid 1.20 (Jamaican dollars) for your scream tribute

  32. 32.

    handsmile

    @Brian R.: @sharl:

    Very much appreciate your links to the Colbert-Sendak interviews!

    @Schlemizel: (#31)

    Here I was preparing to bid $1million Zimbabwean dollars for the foil art “Scream,” but dammit if you’ve not already outbid me. And I bet a cut-throat art collector like yourself is only buying it for its investment value.

  33. 33.

    Southern Beale

    Here’s a wine foil sculpture of a chicken….

    No offense to the artist, but I thought it was a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

    Then again, it might have been interpreted as an expression of man’s inhumanity to man …

  34. 34.

    Beauzeaux

    Decant? Unless you’ve somehow gotten hold of an 1865 Port or other old wine, decanting is a waste of time and just a teensy bit pretentious. (Unless the wine is so cheap you don’t want your guests to see the bottle.)

    99 percent of the wine in North America ages in the time it takes to get from the store to home. Ravenswood makes some nice wines but you can skip the decanting. Sometimes I skip the glass even. Also.

  37. 37.

    celiadexter

    The point of decanting is also to get the schmutz (aka sediment) out — there’s not that much in most American wines but you’re likely to find it in many European wines. You don’t want your last sip of a great old Rioja to be less than tasty.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @Beauzeaux: I was using that word in the sense of transferring the liquid from one vessel to another, the second being the jelly jar I primarily use as a goblet. We aren’t very fancy at our tiki bar, our obvious appreciation for fine art notwithstanding…

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    I think your foil art is quite good.

    Make one like Jesus and you will have a tourist attraction.

  40. 40.

    curiousleo

    reports from NC that some folks are not being given the right ballot — ie not being given the ballot w/ the amendment on it.

  41. 41.

    Abo gato

    I have that blow up scream as well. It sits on the credenza behind my desk at work and pretty much sums up the feelings of all of us there.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @Throwin Stones:

    Some drawer at home houses my “No Wimpy Wines!” button from Ravenswood. They helped keep zin going when it was nearly all 1. being ripped out to plant chard or cab or 2. being made into (gulp) white zin.

    However, they’re not maintained their former feisty character since being absorbed by Constellation.

    Also, too, chicken is awesome.

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    @Beauzeaux:

    I don’t think she meant that literally–just teasin’ us with a fancypants wine term, nomsayn?

    “Decant” sounds better than “chugging directly from the bottle ’cause the jelly jars are all in the sink, dirty.” An autobiographical note, FWIW.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    @trollhattan:

    Whoa, I’ve become “undefined.” Must check mens room mirror for distinct reflection. Also, too, I swear I write the jelly jar line before seeing Betty’s response, above.

  46. 46.

    Comrade Mary

    Betty, have you seen this?

    Rooster For Sale – Good Fighter But Of Poor Moral Character
    __
    … The first sign of problems with Ronnie was that he began to attack the humans. Mostly from behind, like you would expect from a chicken. This isn’t a problem for an adult wearing pants, but now that the warm weather is here, we’d like to wear shorts around the yard. Bare legs are just not safe around this rooster. And we’re worried about the grandkids, who still have their sight. We’ve tried therapy to deal with the bad behavior, various methods from Dr. Spock to Dr. Boot, but nothing has worked.
    __
    Most of these vicious, un-provoked attacks end with a flying lesson from the human, and that ends the aggressive behavior for up to three days. During those days, Ronnie acts like a chicken and he runs away when the humans get too close. But with a brain the size of a pea, he seems to forget how these things always end, and two or three days later, he’s back for more fighting and another flying lesson. It’s not a case of too much testosterone either; he’s got other outlets for that.
    __
    There are 20 hens of various sizes, shapes and colours in the flock. They are hot, and they regularly make themselves available to this rooster and there are no strings attached; eggs are collected every day. You would expect this rooster to be: a) happy and b) tired. But, no, he’d rather stir things up with the humans. …

    The story was wrapped up on CBC’s As It Happens last night. Click the Listen link for audio.

  48. 48.

    metalgirl

    I did some poll greeting here in my NC precinct, holding up a “Vote No on Amendment 1” sign and got more thumbs up and “thank you for doing this” than I expected. I hope the polls are wrong and that the amendment goes down in flames. Fingers crossed!

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