Artist's Attempt To Highlight 'Horrifying Truth' Of KKK Backfires

[unokitty]

Artist's Attempt To Highlight 'Horrifying Truth' Of KKK Backfires

A public art display meant to denounce racism in the United States was removed Friday after some University of Iowa students were angered by its image of a large Ku Klux Klan robe.

Serhat Tanyolacar, a visiting professor at the university's art school, said he displayed the 7-foot-tall fabric sculpture in the center of campus Friday morning to join with protesters upset over the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

But within hours, he said he was facing angry criticism from students who misunderstood his intent and called him racist. One of them knocked over the sculpture...

Tanyolacar said he felt horrible that people were offended. But he said he was insulted by a university statement that referred to his art as "divisive, insensitive and intolerant," saying officials didn't ask him about its context or message.

"It is hurtful as a professional artist to be told what is art work and what is not art work," said Tanyolacar, 38, who has taught at colleges in Florida and came to Iowa on a prestigious one-year Grant Wood printmaking fellowship. "I'm speechless."

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

Uno

 

[waggy]

ohh it was "art". I have found that the idea art is trying to say is really hard to fucking figure out.

such as this. what did he think was going to happen when you have a statue in a KKK outfit? that people would stop and think or react with feeling with the first look?

 

[Fayd]

asking college students to think? just what kind of professor is he?!?!

 

[Bitek]

Or its poorly conceived art work. If the intent of your piece can't be distinguished from the idea it's meant to criticize, you've probably missed the mark.

 

[Subyman]

It is obviously an artistic expression. A dumb clansman wouldn't bother to make it out of newspaper clippings. It'd be a Walmart bed sheet slapped onto a Hobby Lobby discounted scarecrow.

I'm not sure what the newspaper clippings say, but I'm sure its key to what the professor meant. Perhaps the setting was wrong. What is interesting about art is that the setting matters a lot. If it was in a gallery, then people would be more open minded and thoughtful about what its intended message is. They'd study it. Laid out on the street, people assume instantly based on their gut reaction. Street artists use this difference in reaction to make an impact. The professor got it wrong somewhere a long the line.

 

[Jaskalas]

what did he think was going to happen when you have a statue in a KKK outfit?

Maybe he thought Americans still supported that sort of thing.

As it is today, he's lucky to be alive.

 

[Zaap]

Heh.

Long since time to revise Warhol.

"In the age of PC stupidity, litterally *everyone* will have their 15 minutes of being a world-famous racist."

 

[Mai72]

If I took a dump on the sidewalk and called it art would that be OK?

Take it down!

 

[DucatiMonster696]

He or it looks like a garden gnome.

 

[Blanky]

KKK = completely irrelevant. They have almost no members left at all. People use them as a whipping boy, but it's more like beating a dead horse. They only exist because they receive attention. They are completely hollowed out and of no import.

 

[her209]

I don't know what the KKK has to do with the MB shooting anyways.

 

[theeedude]

He must not have been aware of the US constitutional right not to be offended.

 

[UglyCasanova]

It seems as though the idea of art has been lost for quite some time. Whereas it used to take skill, now it just seems to be thrown together trash.

 

[Moonbeam]

Here is some interesting information of the artists life and intentions expressed by him:

http://www.serhattanyolacar.com/statement.html

 

[Moonbeam]

And don't forget that when the robots take over we will all have more time for art. These artists types like Zaap, are pioneers in self sufficiency in a jobless world. They live off their genius and creativity. I just bought a sculpture of a whale by the California artist Warren Arnold. Support the arts please.

 

[Zaap]

Thanks for supporting the arts, moonie. Here's a little piece I just created that I call "Do Imaginary Robots Raged Over By Loonbags In Basements Have Imaginary Electric Dreams?"

 

[Meghan54]

Thanks for supporting the arts, moonie. Here's a little piece I just created that I call "Do Imaginary Robots Raged Over By Loonbags In Basements Have Imaginary Electric Dreams?"

Nice selfie, Zaap!

 

[Zaap]

Nice selfie, Zaap!

Auctioning it. Proceeds go to raising awareness for FTDS*.

*Forum Troll Derangement Syndrome.

 

[who?]

In the 1970s in Santa Fe New Mexico it was possible to make money by gluing a cowpie to a board, covering it with glitter and selling it as art.

 

[Moonbeam]

Thanks for supporting the arts, moonie. Here's a little piece I just created that I call "Do Imaginary Robots Raged Over By Loonbags In Basements Have Imaginary Electric Dreams?"

Love it, Zaap. I'm a nobody with no special insight into what a gifted artist might look like, but to me that was simply tremendous. No intention to imply that my lack of artistic sophistication leaves open any question about your talent. I just think that if you can do that off hand, I suspect that what you do seriously must be damn good. I should tell you also that you are, again in my opinion, a talented poster whose capabilities I have admired and enjoyed for some time. You may only be natures answer to artificial intelligence, but you pass the Turing Test and doubtless dream of carbon based sheep.

 

[Moonbeam]

Auctioning it. Proceeds go to raising awareness for FTDS*.

*Forum Troll Derangement Syndrome.

I want it for my screen saver.

 

[HeXen]

I honestly thought it was a wizard when I first saw the pic.
Perhaps the artis is a victim of his own train of thought. He needed outside perspective first.

 

[Zaap]

Love it, Zaap. I'm a nobody with no special insight into what a gifted artist might look like, but to me that was simply tremendous. No intention to imply that my lack of artistic sophistication leaves open any question about your talent. I just think that if you can do that off hand, I suspect that what you do seriously must be damn good. I should tell you also that you are, again in my opinion, a talented poster whose capabilities I have admired and enjoyed for some time. You may only be natures answer to artificial intelligence, but you pass the Turing Test and doubtless dream of carbon based sheep.

I'm truly unworthy.

Now of course when the pilot episode airs...

I honestly thought it was a wizard..

Grand wizard, maybe?

 

[Newell Steamer]

None of this Tom Foolery would take place in trade schools or on the job learnin,.. what they need them universities for?!

 

[Rakehellion]

KKK = completely irrelevant. They have almost no members left at all. People use them as a whipping boy, but it's more like beating a dead horse. They only exist because they receive attention. They are completely hollowed out and of no import.

People still make comparisons to Hitler too. Why can't people be reprehensible in their own right?