It's easy to lose hope...

UPDATE #2: Apparently it was a hoax. Bravo. Back to anonymity now, please.

UPDATE: Is it a scam? Even so, what does it say that we accept the premise that this could be Art. Well, I don't mean to say if it could be art, but if it's remotely worthwhile art.

for Art. I mean, seriously... this is what passes for Art today. People actually think to do this and call it Art.

A snippet:

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

And another:

“I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,” Shvarts said. “Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it’s not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone.”

And..."

“I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity,” Shvarts said. “I think that I’m creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be.”

How long until she shows in Chelsea? Or gets included in the Whitney Biennial?

I came to a conclusion recently about conceptual art. It's too easy. A reasonably intelligent person can think of an idea and implement it. That's not challenging. Quality, visual quality, is challenging. Maybe that's why no one cares about it anymore.

Conceptual art seems to be more about who did it first, not who did it best. I wonder if anyone will try to top Shvarts?

Comments

[Briz]

Shvarts has done nothing new with this. Other women have had projects very close to this one, including painting with the blood, drinking the blood, rolling in the blood. She might get her 15 minutes and a ton of hate mail, but that is about all she will ever get. I think all her work says is that life has become a commodity. More people were upset about that starving dog exhibit than this. People value the life of a dog more I guess. What times we live in! There is an artist who did this way before this student did. Can't remember her name, but there is an interview with her on www.myartspace.com/blog that I remember reading.

[John M. Adams]

LAAAAMO. I agree with you JT. Not for shock value? Come on, give me a break.

[John M. Adams]

LAAAAMO. I agree with you JT. Not for shock value? Come on, give me a break.

[John M. Adams]

There are some "conceptual" artists who are making really good work, that really have substance and form, people should be talking about Matt Ravenstahl's "Slap" piece that is part of the "Conflict" Show at GRACE....

[Notestoself]

The problem is that any halfbaked creative person can come up with a conceptual idea that will shoot them to stardom if they 1.) anger enough people. 2.) meet a patron or patrons who support that bitterness. Think about it. Most of the conceptual art that is successful has involved controversy. I could poop on a plate and stick a bullet representing each State of the US in the feces with a bobblehead Saddam standing over it with a device that causes the head to bobble and call it 'look who is still laughing' and I would probably be a success while my serious work gathers dust. It is not hard to shock and it actually inexpensive to shock. Yet these shocking works sell for thousands.