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Chris Trottier

All art is disturbing. Even art that’s designed not to be disturbing is disturbing.

You might not find this Thomas Kinkade painting to be disturbing, but I do.

I’m not joking here. Not only does this painting offend me, it oppresses me.

And yet, it was designed for mass appeal.

28 comments
Ted Garrison

@atomicpoet Nice painting, but a little overdone in my opinion. Not something I'd hang on my wall.

Casey Jennings

@atomicpoet You just know something deeply wrong is going on inside that cottage

Ubermarionette

@atomicpoet I like that kinkade was a Tortured Artist with a life only a few steps up from van Gogh's but his art was just shit

Chris Trottier

Over the past 10 years, the tech world has been dominated by a specific aesthetic called Corporate Memphis.

See image as an example.

It’s a result of a marketing committees saying, “What’s the most inclusive art we can make that doesn’t offend anyone?”

It’s fine to be inclusive unless that inclusion hides exploitation. Which is what most of the tech world is about.

They want to present fancifulness while hiding their true motivations.

Océane 🏳️‍⚧️

@atomicpoet I've read somewhere that the point with these joyful dancing humans was to hide the harm they're doing to people and to the planet. For example we're talking a lot about greenwashing, privacy washing, rainbow capitalism, etc. and at some point we can start to wonder how many concepts we're going to have to learn. It's much more simple.

Chris Trottier

The problem with modern art is that we’ve allowed homogeneity to take over.

Despite having the entire world’s knowledge at our fingertips, we’ve resigned ourselves to a flat and drab monotony.

We disguise this behind “best practices”. But in reality, we’ve put our creative impulses inside a cage.

Frankly, I’m bored.

Chris Trottier

Years ago, I embarked on a quest to create a whole new aesthetic that I called “Sizz”.

People found it disturbing. Even now.

But slowly a community formed around it.

I don’t regret offending people with high contrast black and white.

At least, this art is imbued with a piece of me.

Dave

@atomicpoet I like it. It's a slice of life. High-contrast photography is usually harsh. It evokes a reaction. It's hard to ignore. It's even harder to say, "That's nice, don't forget the milk on the way home."

Jeff C. 🇺🇦

@atomicpoet I LOVE high-contrast black and white.

Definitely more interesting than the pablum that goes for corporate messaging illustration these days.

Lee 🌏

@atomicpoet
I spent my 3 years at Uni, trying to create a whole new design style and ended up with a shit grade, compared to those who followed the current style. ☹️
I look back at the work, and it was a bit patchy. Some good bits and some bad bits, and maybe I got the grade I deserved, but what I can say is, the system is set up to reward those who conform.

Debideaux

@atomicpoet I don't find it disturbing. I keep trying to squint 😆 enough to see what the light is hiding.

JustAFrog

@atomicpoet The high contrast reminds me of WW2-era recon photography.

Except those were mostly aerial shots and a few side profiles of military and industrial things.

The way some details disappear and emphasis shifts from the expected to other objects makes your images interesting to look at.

Like, I know what I'm looking at, but I never looked at it like that.

Dave

@atomicpoet Homogenized is less likely to offend. Take a risk. No matter what anyone does some will object, some will worship the ground they walk on, most will take it in stride.

DELETED

@atomicpoet while I encourage people to talk and engage in the conversation of art, all I hear about "corporate art for the internet" is I think unwarranted. I can see why people get their assumptions, but it also shows that art education also has some utillity to the average person. 😅

Dave

@atomicpoet ...and once people pick up on that gimmick they become jaded, possibly cynical.

I'm in the miniority, but 'most anything created by committee is less than it could.

Lee 🌏

@atomicpoet
I have a client who loves this stuff! 😳
To them, it's a change from boring old stock photography. To them, it's new and exciting and different. As it becomes more popular, there is more and more of it on Stock Libraries, giving them more choice. I've no doubt it will be a passing style, but in my experience, we haven't even got close to Peak Corporate Memphis yet.

David Erik Nelson🪬

@atomicpoet dude, same. For me, it’s the weird greasy light and the void of internal logic (like in this painting: why are there so many chimneys in such a small cottage, and located as they are? What is the source and nature of the bizarre light limning the door?)

Dr. Samuel Wein

@atomicpoet
"Every window was lit, to lurid effect, as if the interior of the structure might be on fire."

backofthecerealbox.com/2005/12

Sami Seppo ( EN / FI )

@atomicpoet I understand why such painting doesn't whisper/speak to you, but mostly disturbs. A shallow work like this takes skills (obviously) to get implemented, but it just mostly screams obvious - oustandingly. Would work e.g. to illustrate entertainingly visually a scenery in a fairy tale story for kids.

A piece of #art should:
1) say something other than just obvious
2) show some skill (effort isn't that necessary, but at least a sheer sense of style is)

@atomicpoet I understand why such painting doesn't whisper/speak to you, but mostly disturbs. A shallow work like this takes skills (obviously) to get implemented, but it just mostly screams obvious - oustandingly. Would work e.g. to illustrate entertainingly visually a scenery in a fairy tale story for kids.

Rufus J. Cooter

@atomicpoet
Hard agree lol
usedta be a thomas kinkade store in the 'fancy' mall downtown, that you had to walk by after leaving the multiplex; that place always gave me the heebie-jeebies

Raccoon ✅

@atomicpoet
Nah brah, shit looks like some Fae Horror, like, that's where the fae-folk hunter who eats eyeballs lives. Run while you can!

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