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Last updated on July 12th, 2017 at 10:32 am
Rebellious Sydney art stays safe:
In his exhibition Cupco Is God, the artist Luke Temby has turned [the Pope and L.Ron Hubbard] into hand-stitched plush dolls. He has made a Jesus doll, a Satan doll and various Indian gods. His Queen Elizabeth is the Church of England’s representative of God on Earth, and his Joan of Arc is listening to music from the Smiths on a melting Walkman.
He has made suicide-bomber dolls that fall into two categories: little green monsters and female martyrs. “They’re heroes or devils depending on your perspective,” he says.
There is no Allah doll because “you’re not allowed to represent him, and I thought I’d better not”.
I’ve worked with Luke – nice guy; very gifted – but this is incredibly weak.
(Via Dominic at Steynland)
In all honesty, Paco,I felt a bit guilty posting that quip since Tim did say he knew him and he was a nice guy. OTOH, too many artists these days need a good smack on the side of the head. Wait . . . did I say these days? Artists have always lived in lalaland. I wonder how he feels about Theo VanGogh who had his head sawed off for his “art”? In fact, why didn’t he make a Theo VanGogh doll with a removable head, and a butcher knife stuck in his chest?
No Mohammed doll as well, I see.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 29 at 12:54 PM • permalink
Gifted, Tim? Not on the basis of the lame pre-school South Park-quality shit displayed in the photo. And as an artist he obviously falls into the same trap nearly every single last one of those deluded losers do, namely pretending that they’re edgy and controversial when they haven’t the balls or imagination to do something truly groundbreaking. Even uplifting and beautiful would be a nice change. OMG! He bravely commented on religion (except one)! Genius! Never been done before!
I’ll stick to looking at the exhaust headers of an F1 car or the sweep of a suspension bridge in my search for meaningful art, thanks.
Posted by Crispytoast on 2007 12 29 at 01:01 PM • permalink
Nice guy, and gifted. Okay. Must be a warm cozy feeling knowing he’s got your back, right?
Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 12 29 at 01:29 PM • permalink
I’m looking forward to the artist who presents “Piss Mohammed” myself.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 12 29 at 01:50 PM • permalink
#6: No need to feel uncomfortable about it, Redd; you make a great point. Artists are constantly prattling about the need to challenge people’s traditional views, bourgeois hang-ups, sacred cows, etc. A test of the honesty of their intentions is how far they’re willing to go in exposing themselves to something other than the mere disdain shown by people whom they neither respect nor fear . I am, frankly, delighted to see so many of the culturati exposed as jelly-spined poseurs.
Your not allowed to represent him?
Who told him that, his lcoal imam? He may be a ncie guy, Tim, but he’s a fart and a prat as well.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 12 29 at 02:46 PM • permalink
I know! He could make dolls of Hitler, Bush, Blair, and Howard….then switch their heads around. Artistical genius!
Seriously, not only would the art critics and MasterCard Marxists fawn over it, there’s probably a government arts grant in it for you.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 12 29 at 04:00 PM • permalink
the guy says “you’re not allowed to represent him, and I thought I’d better not” but then it says “Temby doesn’t believe in God”
He needs a better understanding of the rules : If you aren’t part of the religion you can still eat yummy bacon.
My ignorance is showing : who are the 5 cat like dolls in the picture to the left of Hanuman (or is it Chewbacca?)
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 12 29 at 06:20 PM • permalink
- Message to Luke:
You can’t be “respectful” and “irreverent” at the same time. They’re antonyms.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 12 29 at 06:34 PM • permalink
Temby doesn’t understand the difference between art and craft.
In fairness, it’s not clear to me where the boundary is either. Surely great craftsmanship is art?
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 12 29 at 06:37 PM • permalink
#24 brilliant, Paco. I think I’ll use that line myself sometime, if that’s okay with you.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 12 29 at 08:17 PM • permalink
- Just a comment on your “he’s a nice guy” comment, Tim.
Most people, on a personal level, are nice people and many are really personable.Even terrorists don’t immediately start putting crap on you unless they’re actually attacking you. Most pedophiles surprise their community because they have been “nice guys”,or active (!) in the community, heads of socially useful organisations, etc etc.None of this means that “nice” people are incapable of cruelty, corruption or treachery. In fact, “nice “ people are especially susceptible because they like to go along with the crowd to “keep the peace”.
Just see all the niceness (including your “nice” artist friend) that currently deliberately obscures the islamic ugliness in the world, the “nice” people that support David Hicks, the “nice” people that have supported psychopaths and violence and then betray their own, principles notwithstanding.
“Nice” doesn’t mean shit. Your friend may be good for a beer at the weekend, and he may yet get to understand the threat of Islam but at the moment the only thing that nmatters to him is his skin, funding and his art, in that order.
And why not? He’s not a real warrior, he’s an adolescent playing at rebellion, as are most self-styled speakers on “freedom” these days. (Not necessarily excluding me!;)
Posted by carpefraise on 2007 12 29 at 10:02 PM • permalink
And this doesn’t mean I advocate unnecessarily playing with fire either – it’s generally sensible to avoid conflict – the trick is, I guess, knowing when to push it and when to reveal it. That needs percipience, sometimes training and always courage.
Posted by carpefraise on 2007 12 29 at 10:04 PM • permalink
Like you aren’t allowed to drive on the roads when you’re drunk… is there a suggestion within that that sober people also can’t?
Posted by stahlblume on 2007 12 29 at 11:06 PM • permalink
Can ‘art’ without any courage, insight or profoundness whatsoever be considered ‘art’
yes, in the sense that paperback romance novels are art. It’s art for someone.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 12 30 at 06:16 AM • permalink
- #23
Craft is all about skill. Art takes this skill and does something with it that is profound, moving, brilliant. It is the skill, the craftsmanship, that allows the observer to appreciate an artwork without the artist’s explanation.The problem we have now is that the craft part is no longer a requirement of an artist. “Artists” can present any old shit, give it any trendy meaning that comes into their dumbs heads and claim it as art. A pile of dung can have any meaning.Temby has managed to bring the craft back into his art, which allows you to assess it as proper art. That’s easy – it is crap. He should have stuck to making toys for the fleamarket.
Another de-balled dhimmi playing with dolls. Tsk tsk.