A little earlier this week a thread was started by someone in a depressed mood that caused a little stir. I am not going to link the thread but some of the regulars saw it and if you didn't see it , well go searchin. The reason I am not going to link it is because of it's questionable nature but it got me thinking.

The subject matter in the photos raised some emotions. I for one looked at the "pics" and personaly thought they were very well done. Personaly I do not like photography as a art form. Thats a whole other argument that i would rather not go into at the moment. But the thing i would like to bring to attention was the reactions of the Pimprig family.

To me art is something that is suppose to make you ask questions. As much as I do not like 'Shock Art" the reactions from the viewer seem to fade away and become desensitised quickly. But it does get people talking. There are allways some one doing something controlversial Franko B's "I miss you", Richard Serra's "Tilted Arc" , and even Michelangelo's " David" or "Sistine Chapel".

Thing is I know that everyone likes different types of art and thats fine I have my own tastes as well. But the thing that got me thinking about that thread was the reactions it got. How people started taliing about "What art is." it can not be defined it is a argument that has been around a long time. It is like what came first the chicken or the egg. But here is my beef on the thread and reply about "What is art?"

By no means is this ment to be disrespectfull but seeing the replies got me more upset than the pics did. People were saying what art was and is when there was no referance to anything except personal judgment, then when others replied their outlook was wrong. Everyone in here does not mind that people read different books, listen to different music,different tastes in movies,ect...why did it all of a sudden take a turn when it became visual? We as gamers do not mind seeing someone get shot , entrails thrown across the room in Doom3, brutal sexual acts in Max Payne. Why did something that is not going to be seen by many people such as those photos stir the pot so much? Come on when was the last time you have gone to a art gallery or museum? If it was recent great...if it has been a while go. You might just be surprised on the history of your favorite piece of artwork.

'Nuff said.....

Art...hmm

Music is one form of art too. I guess you could say there are many types..Art is about self expression...or about a certain mood or feeling you have...Even photoshoping is one form...

hmm since were on the subject...heres something I did one day (in class for art)
http://members.fesgaming.com/kaiba/images/art.JPG (I linked for dial up users I know many of you have seen this..so its for people who havent)

Basically, I was expressing a dream I had about a year ago...If you can deciper the angle, there would be more land from where you are looking. The point is a point on the coast that reaches out. One thing is missing to make it complete...( a women dressed in a semiripped wedding gound...black hair..etc)

You know..Since yesterday..Ive been in the mood to write something....just something..either poetry or a story...to express myself..

The reason why those pictures were so..errr...distubing was probably because it had a certain word in front of it. That one word caused an up roar around the community. Im sure if it had a different title it may have made more of a difference in a response..

As an admin, I have a responsibility to the readers of this forum. I know that many readers, some not even registered, are easily influenced adolescents. Therefore, the content of the forum must remain controlled. Yes, I appreciated the art in those pictures, but no, I didn't care for the subject nor title.

If we were all adults my reaction would have been different. We aren't though, and members forget that now and then.

Some excellent points flounder, and as always thought provoking...

However, coming from the perspective of someone who has studied art history, and frequents the museums the comment placed in that thread was my own personal opinion.

While I can appreciate that the images were staged for the purpose of getting the photos, the subject matter still is unnerving. At the same time though I can see merit in what the photographer was trying to achieve, and see the beauty through his eyes.

But, and that is a big but...when you have young people who see these things, they can put too many ideas into their heads. Sometimes they get things and take them literally. Just the fact that the young man said he was depressed, then went in search of things on the net to do with suicide is a huge red flag.

So my comment was intended to speak my personal opinion, and make a positive impression.

I don't know..........I think it's just me, in the fact that I've actually had to see and deal with the aftermath of suicide. BA and Foe made some valid points regarding forum content and how it might be interpreted to some of our readers...........I mean think about it..........we have alot of members under the age of 18 years of age here.

The biggest thing that struck me was the initial post by post_break..

Quote: Originally Posted by post_break Now this isnt what you think, Im not attempting/contemplating/planning on doing anything stupid. I wasnt in a good mood and so I tried to find pictures to relate to how I felt. In my search I just typed random words into a search engine and looked for images. I started with sad, lonely, ect. I didnt find anything that struck me untill I made a typo. I typed beautiful and suicide was already in the bar so it looked for beautiful suicide and it came up with some images that shocked me. They were infact amazing pieces of art IMO, everything from the way they were to put together to the logic and meaning to the photo's. I want you to look at these pictures and get the word suicide out of your mind and just look at the pictures and let me know what you think. Im sure a whole bunch of you guys will think I am crazy but whatever, Ill just shake it off like everything else. Just give it a chance and take a look. *may have some problems with firefox*

He says he "wasn't in a good mood" and that he just randomly "typed beautiful suicide". Now , those two items alone send a message of depression. But , then he types"They were infact amazing pieces of art ". Now, I'm not a psycologist, but if I was to submit this to a psycologist, I bet there would be a few "RED FLAGS" raised. And all the other items in that post like, "Now this isnt what you think, Im not attempting/contemplating/planning on doing anything stupid" and "I want you to look at these pictures and get the word suicide out of your mind and just look at the pictures and let me know what you think" send a fluffy message like "it's just art" which doesn't float with me. That to me sends a message that there are issues and those that have sided with post_break, are sending a message that it's "OK".

I mean, out of all the words in our vocabulary, post_break chose those two words.

Very good points flounder, BA, and Foe (especially the parts regarding site content and the ages/impressionability of some of the members).
Personally, i no longer view art as a physical thing, i view art as a process. Anything can be art, it just depends on what it's creator(s) put into it. Of course, that does absolutely nothing to change the fact that art is in the eye of the beholder.

I view art more as something that someone can appreciate. The definition for art is just a general term of some thing that someone loves and enjoys

the definition (for those wondering) is :

Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. Perhaps the most concise definition is its broadest—art refers to all creative human endeavors, excluding actions directly related to survival and reproduction. From a wide perspective, art is simply a generic term for any product of the creative impulse, out of which sprang all other human pursuits — such as science via alchemy, and religion via shamanis

Now, pictures about suicide being seen as beautiful I think should raise some eyebrows or set off psychological alarms, But I do see the point that post_break was trying to make.

My Sting-Ray is art.

Caution sweeping statement:

I think one point that was missed from that thread (and I'm gonna go tag it to my last post in a min) is that people who attempt / commit suicide (for emotional reasons) are mentally unwell at the time and don't know how to better help their selves.

The subject matter of the art in question are the likes of people who are clincaly unhappy and genuinley need help.

Modding is art too..

anything we do can be interprited as art