Comments on Another Piece of Recombinant Art

Those horrid things just east of the Paramount.

What the fuck ARE those things? Who put them there? Dear God, why?????

# 1, they are human beings made out of material belongings... i don't see what's so hard to comprehend about the message there.

You call it art.

I call it sabotage.

The difference is in who decides what art is.

I believe that Four Columns Park's namesakes are left over from the original 1861 location of the University of Washington. (where the Fairmont Olympic Hotel stands today). The columns were part of the facade of the original university building, before it was moved to what is now the U-District in 1895.

I think it's great.

The big wavy steel pieces should be put on its side and used as a training skate park for children. At five years and younger, the helmets and knee/elbow pads would look so cute, and so Seattle! Slap a RealNetwork logo on it, and you have gratuitous 24/7 webcam of nonsense!

Hi Jen - Just curious: Are you going to report on the Phinney Ridge event last week?

Looks like the artist stuck a big ole' 'nilla wafer on the top of that - whateveritis.

Looks like stupid.

Brad: I can't report on events I'm involved in. (What he's referring to, I think, is the Northwest Fine Arts Competition at Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center, which I juried with Abigail Guay.)

Schutte had a piece in the same plaza from the 1987 edition of the Sculpture Project, when it was a parking lot, and was ticked that the plaza had been rebuilt in intervening years. (The same theme is handled more subtly and less self-aggrandizingly in Michael Asher's Caravan, which simply went missing (when it wasn't being stolen outright) on the weeks where its original locations from 1977 no longer existed or were inaccessible.

Don't make up shit liie "Recombinant Art". Go fly a kite, do some time in the joint or rock some bell bottoms with a straight face but don't you ever in your fucking life make up some shit like "Recombinant Art". Christpants, you fucking tryhards.

Another fan.
I guess I am gonna have to start a club.
Those horrid things by the Paramount are mine.
I cannot tell a lie, Mrs. Washington, I did it with my little hatchet.

Not to distract from Thomas Schutte, who I actually think is an interesting artist. And, no doubt, would get similarly dissed if he did a piece in Seattle.

My motto, as an artist- If you cant do the time, dont do the crime.

Maybe the artist is dissing museums by saying that they trap art and put it in a cage instead of letting it roam free.

Yeah, like Cold Killer does, right?

That poor little italian man from Watts is turning in his graves.

@13 Are they really yours? And you would admit that? One of them is wearing western gear for Jeezuz sake!

Kill me now.

Mr. Mitchell, you seem like a nice enough young man from your my space page- and yet you admit you enjoy some truly horrible music- and if you can, in public, proclaim your love for Fleetwood Mac- well, why shouldnt I admit, nay, even be proud of the fact that those are my sculptures.

Western gear?
No, I think you misunderstand the trajectory of sexual identity the three sculptures are traversing.
Odd, as you claim to like Tranny's-

Anyway, the one on the left is vaguely male, even somewhat butch, in its top hat and edwardian jacket. Edwardian- seems to me the "It's Mark Mitchell" who lives in the neighborhood claims to be interested in Edwardian...
And the one on the right is femme- a little polka dot party dress.
The one in the middle is somewhere inbetween- platform boots, and pedal pushers, but that oh so masculine spatula.

Western gear- that would be more like Cowboy Pimp, like a previous piece of sculpture I did for Denver-
http://www.riesniemi.com/pages/pubart_bigboots.html

You will be happy to know I am about to unleash another piece of my horrid work on the area- probably next week, we will be installing the worlds largest walk thru handbag (think Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or Prada) in front of the Bellevue Art Museum.

I am at your service, sir, raising your bile and allowing you to get your agressions out in a relatively harmless way- ragging on me.

Mr. Niemi,

I apologize for my rudeness. I strive to be a gentleman, and may behaviour wasn't gentlemanly in the least. By way of explanation, I offer this: I am a long time resident of Capitol Hill, and as your "artworks" are in full view of one of Capitol Hill's most pleasant vistas, I feel strongly about them. Thank you as well for your considered reply to my glib and dismissive comments.

But I can't stand your art.

When I saw those things standing next to the beloved Paramount Theater on historic Pine Street, I stopped in my tracks, shook my fist at God, and wondered why our Public Art in Seattle so often appears to have been chosen by a child from a selection offered on the Home Shopping Network. It makes us look bad.

I suppose I didn't look at them long enough to find the various references you mention. My eyes were burning at the horror of it all.

I remain, Sir,

It's Mark Mitchell

Dear Mr. Niemi --

I wrote a longish response to your comments @18, but it seems to have been lost in the interwebs.

I apologize for my rude language, above.

But.

While I appreciate the care and goodwill it took to look at my online presence and judge it not unfavorably, I cannot care an equal amount about your work.

I think your art is the sculpture equivalent of Jay Leno -- the hackiest of hacks.

On a personal note, you seem to be a very good natured sort. I wish you only the best of health.

I remain, Sir,

It's Mark Mitchell

IMM, please remind me to kiss you full on the mouth (platonically, of course) next time I see you.

g.