Please don’t fall victim to internet misinformation. There is no floating head. It’s a regular horse, it’s neck is just hidden due to the position of the camera. I made an image to help you understand the what’s actually going on.
“public schooling in america is by and large not designed for ideal learning and has a lot of fucked up incentives and structures that encourage mistreatment of children” ✅
“it would be preferable to have no structure or standardization and just go by vibes” ❌
“education itself is the problem, knowledge is fake, math and writing are unimportant, and ignorance is wisdom” ❌❌❌
I can’t speak for other social media webbed sites but I really enjoy how tumblr seems to just completely spin a wheel on whatever media is hot right now. Like yeah sometimes it’s a new show that’s big and actively coming out but also sometimes there will be a solid month where half my dash is Columbo memes. Defy authority. Get really into an book from the 1800s. Watch shows that haven’t aired in 40 years. Celebrate the anniversary of the Boston Molasses Flood. Become unmarketable
this is such a profoundly stupid thing to be mad about but. i periodically think about how banksy made one of my single favorite pieces of art of all time, and everything else he’s ever done has sucked. man, how did you nail it once
It’s this piece, titled The Banality of the Banality of Evil. Because on first glance, you’re like. Yeah, okay, it’s obvious what it’s saying. Even nazis, even evil people can appreciate beauty, too. But then you learn its name, and suddenly the interpretation shifts a bit. The idea that evil is banal has in itself become banal. my first response to seeing a nazi on a bench is “oh it’s about the banality of evil” and not “jesus christ there’s a nazi on the bench.”
and like. i dunno i think that’s a really interesting way for a title to recontextualize a piece. it’s finding nuance by tearing out the nuance you want to project onto it. it’s not the greatest piece of art ever made, but i’d be lying if i said i didn’t have a huge soft spot for it
Okay but I have to add to this
what I find really interesting is how the way this is drawn (especially considering who drew it) the art style seems extremely deliberate. This type of nostalgic landscape painting is very reminiscent of nazi art and specifically, Hitler’s art.
Nazis were extremely judgmental of “entartete Kunst” (degenerate art). Bansky’s usual work very well fall into this category! So for him to go for this style of painting in particular is another choice I find very interesting, because I can see some people react to this painting with some variation of “oh, I didn’t know he could actually draw! I thought he is a hack but he is a real artist!” - and that is where they would agree with the Nazis.
I dunno I just find this piece very compelling
oh that is actually fascinating. in fact, to add on- a detail I omitted because I just kinda forgot to mention it. The reason there’s two signatures in the corner is because it was a painting in a thrift shop, Banksy adding the Nazi, and then returning it to the shop.
I think there’s something interesting about recognizing the lineage of this type of art and wanting to mess with it, subvert the intent, and explore the topic and legacy. It’s potent. I really like this piece
struggling to figure out how tumblr is losing money
The opposite of “there’s an XKCD strip for this” has got to be “what the fuck do you mean there’s an Achewood strip for this,” less common, more alarming.