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techgnotic β 'Wall Of Gum'
Published: 2011-07-06 19:22:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 130925; Favourites: 1031; Downloads: 701
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This is what a wall of gum looks like. Is this art?Read more about it here.
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Comments: 753
Wall of Gum uses an unexpected medium to create what is undeniably an effective portrayal of the use of color, line, and shading. It is difficult to contest that it is, in fact, art. Is it abstract? Certainly. Does it have a clearly defined subject? Hardly. Nevertheless, it does seek to use its medium to portray a visual experience that makes no pretense that it is anything else besides that which it is- a wall of gum.
In the end, this piece is somewhat aesthetically satisfying while not exactly beautiful, interesting if not compelling, effective but not forceful, unexpected but not dramatic, different but not pretentious- in other words, by my account, a work of art.
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Is this art? I suppose that would depend on how this,"wall of gum," was constructed. An important factor to this question would be what the artists intent for this piece was. Is there a message behind it, was there a desired effect, or was the placement of gum for the most part random?
I have my own personal opinion of what art truly is, as most artists or art appreciators do. This specific piece of course, could never be replicated, but does that mean it is art?Could another individual with the will to stick thousands of pieces of gum to a wall do any better or any worse?
I noticed a few things in this piece aside from the obvious forty-five degree angle. Things that I believe we're intended in all of this seemingly unintended randomness. Among the slight transitions of color throughout this piece there are two small picture placed in this smorgasbord of gum. I also noticed a blue gum smiley face in the upper right quadrant. We're these intended, or is it left for the viewer to interpret? If so, is there a meaning behind them?
Art to me is something not just anyone can create. It is what makes an artist unique. For instance, not just anyone can be a world class powerlifter, musician, singer, surgeon, poet, dancer, or anything else for that matter that requires not just a lifetime of practice and commitment, but a genetic predisposition or natural ability to be proficient at these things on a level far higher than the norm.
Many people are drawn to art, whether they are born with this gift and ability, or not. Should they be thrown into the category of talented or untalented? Or should anyone with the desire to be an artist, be one? Can anyone with the desire to be a singer, musician, dancer, or poet, be one? Unfortunately, in my opinion, no. Can anyone stick gum to a wall and call it abstract, sure. Can anyone paint a magnificent portrait capturing all of the proper angles of light and texture, while following the rules and boundaries of each particulate type of medium, no. Art should be determined by how difficult the techniques behind it are, and how much skill goes into those techniques. Then there is the factors of intent, is there a message behind it, and did the artist convey that message effectively? If all of these factors fall into place, well then, you have a fine piece of artwork.
Creating something that is fun to look at, and creating something that should truly be considered fine art, are two very different things. I am not trying to be a critic, I am only giving my critique. I just find that with many things in life that become main steam, there needs to be some clarification every now and then before people loose sight of what the essence is behind it. If not, "art" would then saturate the art world and community in such a way that its value becomes lost and or forgotten.
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Well done.
A great critique
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Thank you my friend.
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Its almost like you can see anouther picture out of this. Like connect the dots with gum.
Come on, who else has seen a wall of gum.
The way this shows full screen is cool, in stead of a sky in the background or people walking by it or whatever.
You see the peoples thumdprints on the gum like they pushed it on there, or however they got it on there.
First critique by the way, hope you like it and make it fair or however you do this. Anyway trying to think of words...have 5 to go . . . Bye - bye!
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This is what I call "Constant Art." It looks pretty much the same all over. But that doesn't mean it's bad.
The fact that you could stare at this for a long time means a lot. You try to see some sort of picture in it and see the colors and how they were stretched. It is worthy of a print in a modern home.
Everyone is different, but I love this work of art. It deserves good comments and Critiques. It is worthy of a wallpaper, or even the screen of an iPhone! This is a true work of art.
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To me, when I see this picture, I see originality, Colour and inspiration. I love the concept of this art work as well as how it turned out.
This is the first time I have actually seen or heard of something like this and it caught my attention. It made me want to look at it closer.
Art is what you make it. No matter what it is. And to me, this is what I call art. Everyone is different, but in my eyes, this is so amazing.. I would even buy a print of it.
This is amazing how people used something so disgusting and yet something we all love and transformed it into this master piece.
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The answer to the question "is it art?"...
Well it depends on your definition of "it" doesn't it?
This critique needs to be broken down into three layers.
The first layer: Is the wall of gum, in real life, a work of art?
The Second Layer: Is the photograph of the wall, in itself, a work of art?
The Third Layer: Does the posting/contextualization of this photograph in an art forum and the conversation that has sprung up around it constitute art in itself?
In considering my answers to this trifold question, I am going to refer on occasion to a (quasi-)venn-diagram that I created called "diagram of art" which can be viewed in my gallery here: [link]
In this diagram I overlap 4 circles - "Sensuous play," "communication," "public" and "private." I show how human activities are created in the overlap of these circle. But by my model, something is only "art" if it exists in the overlap between *all four* circles.
First layer: The wall of gum.
I do not believe that the wall of gum, as it exists in life, constitutes a work of art. However, Techgnostic's "unconscious group performance art (UGPA)" argument is **compelling**. While the wall doesn't constitute art in my 4-circle model, it does come *very close*. Here's how - First of all, The Gum Wall, at the very least, constitutes an act of Public, Sensuous play (like a fireworks show, a sporting event, an orgy, or a war). Second, while there's no obvious motive of communication or meaning-making in the gum wall, the absence of one in the case of all the gum-stickers cannot be proved. Thus the wall could *in theory* be described as the product of a *ritual,* or even a piece of "collaborative wall decoration." It comes very close to art, but does not cross into it because there is a lack of meaningful PERSONAL (private) input on behalf of the individual gum-stickers. One patron's gum does not make a real difference in this work. There's virtually no true expression in the final product. So... Not art, but just barely.
Second layer: The photo
I actually consider the photo the least "artistic" of the layers that I am reviewing. Some photos are pieces of art in themselves because the way they are taken and the way they present their subject says something that couldn't be said otherwise. However, in this case, the fact that it is a photo really doesn't add anything to the discussion. The photo is a rather simplistic documentation of the wall, which exists in real life. It's just a quick and easy substitute for actually looking at the wall. If we were to go back to my 4 circle model, it's nothing but un-inflected Public Communication of something that happened, like journalism. Not art.
Third layer: The contextualized work.
This article. This phenomenon. This discussion. It's all brilliant! By taking the wall of gum and presenting it in an art forum for the discussion of whether or not it counts as art, Techgnostic has done something similar to what Marcel Duchamp did with his readymades (except techgnostic is less like a troll than Duchamp and more like an actual facilitator). The context (especially the article) suddenly galvanizes the three layers of the piece into one whole. The article alludes to a wall that was created in a spirit of public play, using the tools of communication to simultaneously express a privately held opinion and to ask for public input. The public input is then communicated back in the form of playfully-offered private opinions. After publishing this article, all four circles of human activity are humming together in harmony and we can truly feel that we have a work of art on our hands. The work of art here is not the wall, nor the photo, but this entire situation and the state of mind it puts us in.
So. Yes. Art.
To explain the way I starred for this critique:
Vision - This is meh. The wall is not your vision, it's a thing that you saw.
Originality - This is A-OK, because even though the wall is not your original idea, the idea of showing it to us and asking "is this art" was clever.
technique - There is no technique here on your behalf, because you merely documented what you saw. And there's no real technique here on behalf of the creators, who just stuck gum to a wall. Technique is not the point here.
Impact. - This is really, really fun to write about and everybody who's taken the time to write about it is going to be laughing about it a week from now. That's impact. You made us all think. That's what matters.
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Your find is fascinating; somewhat repulsive, which makes it even more fascinating. The only thing that detracts from the image is the limitations of the camera in your phone. I think the colors and textures from a high quality image would made a better overall imapact. The colors are a bit dull- I can see that the image is on the lossy side. The intent was clear because I would have taken a picture of the same thing too. It would be interesting to revisit the wall with a better camera.
..Yes, it is art. If it provokes a response and it was intended to provoke a response, it can be considered art. It reminds me of the wall of ties and the collection of bras in some notable NYC bars...
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To my knowledge, the concept of art its very subjective, and If you hadn't raised the question I wouldn't have considered and well to me this is incidental, you happened to see it and took a picture, but isn't photography just that?? to capture an essence of beauty wherever you see it, I like the color and the texture of it, I thing its a great photo, a piece of art!! but considering the photo and the wall itself... the wall its not art, it really has no meaning only years of people pasting their gum, but in time it created a beautiful texture, that you happened to see and considered it worth of taking a picture.. so to me its your vision that makes it art, the photo is art, the wall its not
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1 Vision- this is just a wall of gum you can see the exact same thing at most theme parks across America [Carowins & Six Flags] both local theme parks have walls, trees, trashcans, ect done exactly like this. * see layout at bottom for further issues with vision.
1/2 Originally- It's everywhere as mentioned in [vision] above where there are huge crowds of people. So nothing original here.
1/2 Technique- If a TECHNIQUE can be done by everyone ending with the exact SAME results if they have the same EQUIPMENT & SETTING, then to me it is NOT art to me
1 Impact- the only impact here is it's statement on humanity and how messy we are... There would be some actual impact if [for example] if they had added in a empty clean trash can right by or someone pulling off a piece of gum about to eat it... but nope, nothing here. Maybe a good wallpaper or stock image.
Layout- I personally would have cropped it to remove the 2 white lines going through it [which do not help the work at all being it leads the eye either up and off or to the side and off the page.
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I want to stress that I am not proclaiming my opinion of what i consider to be art as the only way to see this, it is a matter of my personal taste.
I think it is perfect piece for conceptual photography with minor cropping or wallpapers, as well stock... In this sense it is very much art.
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This is not art.
For a start, the wall of gum was not created by the submitter so this, as an artisan craft, cannot be credited to them. That is fair enough, as the deviant has submitted this as a -Photograph-. so let's explore the idea of this being a photograph.
For a start, the photograph completely ignores the rule of thirds. Ok, that's fair enough- not all photographs need to include this rule.
How about content? Ok.. it's a wall of gum. Fair enough, no interesting content- some good photographs don't have much content but are still good photographs.
How about emotional response? Yeah, it certainly has that. But not because of the photograph. Because it's a wall of gum. What are the chances of seeing a wall of gum anywhere? But that's not created by the photographer.
Vision: it's not the photographers vision so sorry, no points there.
Originality: In all fairness, not many people would think about taking a picture of a wall of gum. I'll give you that.
Technique: ...What technique?
Impact: This has a lot of impact but not because of the picture. It's because of the wall of gum.
So in conclusion, the object itself is art, and should be credited as such to all the people who thought "let's stick some gum on this wall of gum" but the photograph is not art. It's just a snapshot of a wall of gum.
I'm aware that this critique might not get published but still, it's something to think about. I'm happy if some people are in dispute of my opinion, and congratulations to the Deviant as it seems that rather a lot of people -do- like this picture.
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You completely miss the point, purpose of this photograph is that people could debate about it.
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And debate is what I did.
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I agree on the all points, art is subjective but your right the photographer did nothing but take the picture. ONE click...
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This is artwork! Art work is better in my opinion when it's a random happening of something amazing or unusual. Like natural beauty, or something so hideous you can't look away. Art is art whether or not its the Mona Lisa or a draw by a six year old. As long as it speaks to someone, its art. This is most positively original. I don't know how you shot it, but it looks a little crooked. That might be something that's just bothering me though. This artwork had a huge impact on most of deviantart, whether that impact is good or bad is yet to be determined.
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Just my own opinion, but. The photo of the wall of gum is art. The object itself is not. It has no intention, its purely an accidental process, much like nature laying down layers of sand in a river that eventually becomes banded sandstone. Art is, or should be at least, a creative process with the intention of producing "something" which will speak of the artist's mind, soul, circumstance, environment, emotional state, or some glimpse into the journey of their life. Intention being a key word here, be it conscious or not, it is a process from the inner being, to expression in some form in the physical world. That wall has no intention, therefore it is something that you might use in the creation of art, such as your photograph, but as taken by itself. Its little more than a symptom of societal breakdown. A gutter where the splatter of stains from spit, chewing tobacco, the litter of cigarette butts, chewing gum wrappers and spent condoms has about the same relevance to art as does that wall. e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s⦠" width="15" height="15" alt="
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You put that beautifully.
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Thank you, very kind of you.
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You're welcome.
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I think you haven't got the intention. Have you noticed the gum that looks like a heart and two photos of two persons on the wall of gum? If not, take a closer look
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Oh, I think I do, smiles, I examined it pretty thoroughly. We are allowed to disagree, that is part of what makes life.
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For me, it's not art because there was no thought or even skill used in executing it. It's just a wall covered with used gum. It's like finding a potato chip that looks like Abe Lincoln or the Virgin Mary. You can recognize the shape,but it's not art...it's just a funky potato chip.
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And I agree with you. There is absolutely no intent in the making of this wall, no thought,and no art whatsoever!
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Dadaists would argue that even the discussion of whether or not it's art is art....
The conclusion would be that this is art indeed, whether the individual contributions were intentional or not.
There has been time, effort and thought put into this piece, although, perhaps not by all equally.
I truly believe anyone can make art out of anything, anywhere.
Whether or not it's GOOD art is matter for debate.e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b⦠" width="15" height="15" alt="
By the way....your capturing this image is DEFINITELY art.
Non-Artists would walk by and never think of photographing it.
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"I don't have to prove that I am creative" - Talking Heads 'Artists Only'
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I just read an article on this piece. Is is Art or not? I say it is to those who find ir beautiful, interesting or thought provoking.
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My answer to this is predictable.
The answer to the question "is it art or not?" is always "yes".
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A wall full of chewed gums usually disgusts people but this one is different, it let us think about something. It's clearly to see that it is not just a wall of gum, it has a greater meaning. All the different gums with different colors, sizes and shapes let me think about how many unique people with different ages, nationalities, religions and skin colors are living together on this planet. In this variety of people is only one we really love, one we like to share our life with, one we trust most.. I think that's what the heart of gum and the two photos of people mean. It seems that the two people are not living together because only one photo is near the heart while the other photo is apart. This could mean that we have to find our love in all those people, but after thinking a bit more about this I got the Idea that love knows no distances, no limits.
Your unique idea of showing us such thing has a very great impact, I really like it e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s⦠" width="15" height="15" alt="
This piece is very well done and it must have been a lot of work to create it.
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Of course this is art anything is art if you beilive it is the colours and the streched peices makes it look unique.
Alot of time and effort was probaly put into this and how did the first ever peice of art become art it might not have been and it might have so really anything you want to call art is art.
A first time artist with not very good skills is still an artist even if they drew a stick figure on a blank peice of paper it may mean something to someone and not to another.
I think it is a brillant peice of Artwork.
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beautiful, if you ask me, this is great artistic method. it must have taken years for this to develop to make it what it is today, and i will find this art because art is what you made yourself. how long did this take? all the different colors just make it better, my only dislike is that its been in other peoples mouths, other wise i love the picture. keep up the good work and i hope to see more in the future.
P.S. did you make all this? or was it just developed by millions of people around there?
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I saw this on another post, and I want to say personally to you my thoughts. This image is, to me, a brilliant piece of work and very creative. When asked "Is this art?" I said yes! Your idea to me was brilliant, the way you have captured the colours so brilliantly in the light and also I did say in my other post about this being an expressive work of art, and I can see it in this piece of work; you have been bold and daring. I love this work so much I do have to say. I would go as far so say this is almost revolutionary.
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I think this is quite a work of unintentional(?) art, I wonder how many people it took to create this.
Did it start out as a single piece of gum, or did several people put gum on this wall at once? I'm sure a lot of people wonder about the origins of this wall. I wonder if anyone ever tried to scrape the gum off, only to end up coming back and seeing more gum on the wall later on.
Whether this is art or not is debatable, but I think art is anything that is fun to look at and captures the attention of the viewer. And this certainly captured my attention.
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I think this piece is very different than anything I've seen on here in a while. It's definately not wolves! I really do like it. I agree, it must have taken a really long time and a lot of chewing. I really would buy the wall itself and put it in my house had I my own home or apartment! I'm afraid mom and dad wouldn't appreciate me adding the wall to my bedroom. I like the diversity in the colors and sizes. It's very fun and looks like it was created by more than one person, and it all blends together very comfortably and creatively. I like how there appears to be a smiley face on the right hand side of the wall in light blue gum. I give you plenty of kudos for patience and creativity. It obviously took more than a few minutes one one pack of 5 to make this. It's amazing.
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This Obviously has a lot of Imagination put into it, and probably took ages, but I think it looks very cool! With all the colors and bigger sizes of the Gum, The way some of the gum hangs down, the darker older pieces and the brighter new pieces. Sorta reminds me of a community of different ages of people. I think it's really unique. Plus it's Creative, and shows a lot of expression. I mean talk about Fruit scented room were ever that wall is! e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b⦠" width="15" height="15" alt="
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts in such a well thought out critique. I absolutely love your ability to look deeper into the piece and notice in the details that time and weather may have played a part in it's current beautiful incarnation. So maybe this "Art" piece is also always changing with time. Very interesting indeed.
The concept of community also came to mind when I was standing in front of the wall.
Thanks again.
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cool, theres also a wall of gum at Pike Place Market in Seattle Washington, my gum is on it.
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Haha I put some gum on that wall, and I have to say it is quite impressive in person! But nice picture! ^^
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Dude,Β
HOW DID YA GET ALL THAT FRIKIN STUFF OFF THE WALL?
IT WILL ATTRACT RIDICULOUS INSECTS
and soon insects will cover your wall
so..... HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT THING EVERYDAY
But I like it~
I mean, it's like so colorfulΒ
it looks like scattered paint in a unique style
Or hardened clay in different colors
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EWW
Im sorry
This is NASTY
(I have a rare fear of gum stuck to stuff me leaning agents it and so on)
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But its pretty
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This is looking awesome I can't imagine this is chewing gum
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HAHAHAHHAHAHA LIKE A BOSS --->fliiby.com/file/icv0d906x56/
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"That gum you like is going to come back in style"
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This is really cool. Somewhere on that wall is some gum I put there when i turned 16 a few years ago
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