"Artwork" circlebroke

Without the context of like a hundred circlebroke posts detailing reddit's hatred of real art and appreciation for all things petty kitsch, this post will seem exceptionally pretentious and smuggy. And, well, it would've seemed that way no matter what. With that in mind, I'm at liberty to say "just a joke," and make the whole thing a shit-post, so here I go.

Today's top post in /r/art by a landslide:

RIP David Bowie, Mechanical Pencil, 3" Post-it Note

"RIP David Bowie." Pencil tracing on paper. 3"x3". Estimated time: two and a half minutes with the post-it note stuck over your phone.

Maybe it's the fact that I've been knee-deep in pen and ink drawings for the past month, but this is just a stunningly uninteresting submission for an art community. It's a ten-second tracing on a lightbox, boom. Fun, novel, neat, cute, tributary. But otherwise completely uncompelling.

Of course, the crowd goes wild.

fantastic. stirring tribute

Thank you.

Bravo James

Lmao, what?

Nice drawing. "Stirring tribute" is a bit much. It's on a fucking post it.

It's a unique medium. Why does it being on a post it note detract from it? I personally like the imagery. A post it note won't last long and will wear away soon, just like I feel memory of David Bowie may one day fade with his death. However, what won't fade away is what he has left behind. His legacy as a musician and so much more. One part is a fragile look at what we call life and the other is the eternal legacy one can now leave behind, through mediums like music, writing, the Internet. Art is open to personal interpretation.

Now this, this is what get's me worked up. They pull all this wishy-washy intuitive rationalization bullshit to justify when they like some stupid piece of art, but throw out a performance by Yoko Ono and "THE CURTAINS R BLUE OMG LOL" everything is impossible and everyone is stupid and art is a lie.

The post-it is not a unique medium! It's paper! That's the medium!

And then they finish their hand-waving explanation, which wouldn't fly anywhere else ever on reddit, by crashing their whole house of cards are throwing out "Art is open to personal interpretation."

This is awesome. It definitely deserves to be framed.

Put on the refrigerator, maybe. Taped across your monitor for smiles until the adhesive wears out and it falls to the floor, maybe.

Yeah, this is traced. It's a direct match to this image http://ift.tt/1neF7B2. If you overlay them is matches almost perfectly, I'm guessing op pulled up the picture on their phone like a light box and traced it straight to the post it. (-12)

WHOA, HOLD UP! Did you criticize an artist by pinpointing the obvious method they used to sketch out David Bowie and capitalize on a completely unsentimental karma train? Downvotes, dude, We're grieving here.

Drawing from a photo is not the same as tracing. Op knows what he or she is doing. Their rendering ability is spot on and not white knucked, nor is there a heavy, single weight contour line drawn here. All if this points to not traced, just that op drew a picture of a photo. Source: I do this for a living. I see trace jobs all the time. This person's ability at rendering leads me to be fairly certain than tracing would be more of a pain in the ass than just drawing it.

They may not have "traced it" by outlining it with a thick line but they sure as heckfire traced it by drawing directly on top of it a picture. Source: I get paid to draw, too, and there's nothing about this "rendering" that screams "independently composed."

Except everything is a moot point, because at the end of the day, technique really doesn't matter much, if the product rules. But this product is barely passable as an actual work of art, it's like an artist scribbling on the back of a receipt. Their skills as an artist arren't under attack, but this is the work of art we're squabbling over anyway? Something a novelty account could throw together in the time it takes to leech onto a top comment before it hits the top but after its clear where its going?

Oh well.. He/she did a thing as a tribute. You on the other hand are just being negative. This stinks of jealousy. Why else would it bother you?

This is like going "Oh, you must be fat, fattie." If you're going to play the "why does it bother you" card, then I'm going to play it back - why does it bother you that this person didn't fall head-over-heels at once for this masterpiece of a "tribute?"

Nicely done, you even got his eyes right. :)

Yeah, this is traced.

Have you made it your mission to be jealous and petty on this thread?

Lol, it's not a good look when you're chasing around repeating the same insults yourself, you know.

Reddit has made me realize I can't Draw for shit.

Aw, don't let this one depress you buddy - go to a museum if you want to realize how untalented you are!

For sale?

Sigh. There's always one.

The eyes are so perfect. The whole thing is perfect.

Oh, stop it. They're blushing.

Beautiful detail. Thank you for sharing!

No, stop.

Wonderful job! And at that scale, you did excellent with controlling your smudges.

I think that's backwards? At "that scale," there's no room for your hand to smudge against already-drawn area. You could draw the whole thing without moving your hand over it once. I mean I get that I'm being a total nitpicky ass here, but seriously. This stuff is just not on point.

That really captures his spirit- I like the interpretation (you didn't just copy the original , you made him timeless somehow).

No, they copied the original.

These are my favourite, when art is done on and with whatever is lying around. For me, it makes the art seem more real. I get tired of canvasses and sketchbooks and expensive pencils, all of that seems so rehearsed.

My real-life pretentiousness is off the charts right now. I just don't get where all this is coming from. This crowd is the most cynical, art-suspicious crew on the internet. Why does this banal shit get off so impossibly light?

it absolutely blows my mind that people like you are capable of such art.

THIS? This is what blows your mind?! Come on!!!!! Have you seen art?

I always wished I could have a talent as perfected as this. If nothing else makes your day, remember that you are an amazing artest if nothing else. -drunk.

"Perfected" I'm in tears

How do you do this?? This is amazing. Honestly baffles me that people can do amazing stuff like this.

Another adoring fan, I don't know how much more I can take.

Laminate that. It's really quite nice looking, i'd keep it so it doesn't smudge.

At least these people will be really supportive parents when their children bring home drawings from school.

Very very nice! I see a lot of art on reddit and this is actually the first thing I've ever pivoted. Well done!!!!

They're practically disqualifying themselves!

Fuck you and your amazing abilities!

That's crazy good.

It's just baffling. If low-effort, pandering artwork exists - and we're artists here, we can talk like big boys, we can levy actual critical accusations about the craft and aesthetic - then this is as close as it gets to the Platonic form of low-effort pandering art. I'm trying to think of examples of real artists' drawings to compare to but it's just like, fucking all of them, all of the artists, all of the drawings, are more "art" than this.

Anyway, there are literally hundreds of 3-6 word comments of effusive praise below.

Another 7,500 words brought to you by someone who should've grown out of this a year and a half ago. Remember - it takes more muscles to frown that to smile, so just go to sleep and do neither.

Submitted January 12, 2016 at 12:33PM by jamie_byron_dean http://ift.tt/1neD53V circlebroke