Monkey Painting
December 27, 2002 10:39 AM Subscribe
Monkey Painting. No, it's not monkeys that paint, but rather a new fad in low-rent art circles. They're selling like hotcakes on ebay. But don't forget sock monkeys, sea monkeys, and of course, those monkeys typing out Shakespeare.
If you had a thousand monkeys in a room with a thousand typewriters...the stench would be incredible. - D. Letterman
posted by davebush at 11:32 AM on December 27, 2002
posted by davebush at 11:32 AM on December 27, 2002
What a crock. What kind of monkey would eat asparagus? Maybe he's just disgusted with it, though..
posted by adampsyche at 11:36 AM on December 27, 2002
posted by adampsyche at 11:36 AM on December 27, 2002
The so-called paintings are worse than Tim Burton's movie. Even if real monkeys decided to paint their self-portraits, I doubt the results would be that ghastly. I pity the bobos that fall for this kind of post-ironic/ kitschy/awful-to-look-at scam.
ps: you know what naive painting is, right? Rousseau and stuff. Well, someone I know has a nice definition for this: it is not the painting school that's naive; it's the buyers.
posted by 111 at 11:37 AM on December 27, 2002
ps: you know what naive painting is, right? Rousseau and stuff. Well, someone I know has a nice definition for this: it is not the painting school that's naive; it's the buyers.
posted by 111 at 11:37 AM on December 27, 2002
Okay, we'll all just assume that ColdChef's auto-monkey is the real target behind the "Shakespeare" link.
No real harm done, since there's also plenty of goodness and weirdness behind your main link, including a nice gallery of blank signs. Be careful with all the links, though, some are NSFW and not really marked as such.
Can you tell I'm done for the day and just waiting to go home?
posted by yhbc at 11:44 AM on December 27, 2002
No real harm done, since there's also plenty of goodness and weirdness behind your main link, including a nice gallery of blank signs. Be careful with all the links, though, some are NSFW and not really marked as such.
Can you tell I'm done for the day and just waiting to go home?
posted by yhbc at 11:44 AM on December 27, 2002
I also like the collection of post-it notes from an annoying co-worker.
posted by yhbc at 11:48 AM on December 27, 2002
posted by yhbc at 11:48 AM on December 27, 2002
Holy shit. I have found a new obsession. My girlfriend will not be happy.
posted by mikrophon at 11:54 AM on December 27, 2002
posted by mikrophon at 11:54 AM on December 27, 2002
Let's get our facts right. Most of the paintings feature apes...
posted by ALvard at 12:24 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by ALvard at 12:24 PM on December 27, 2002
You mean I have to get rid of my estimable collection of Dogs Playing Poker?
posted by briank at 12:35 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by briank at 12:35 PM on December 27, 2002
yhbc apparently wasn't the first to object. The guy defends himself here.
posted by footballrabi at 12:38 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by footballrabi at 12:38 PM on December 27, 2002
Monkey Business is one of Howard Hawks' funniest movies
posted by matteo at 12:42 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by matteo at 12:42 PM on December 27, 2002
This "low-rent" stuff is mostly all ersatz rip-offs of Donald Roller Wilson's paintings which were the subject of one of my prior posts - I am fond of this eccentric artist's works!
His paintings mainly depict elaborately dressed monkeys, dogs or cats. He's a highly proficient artist, acclaimed in the art world, collected by celebrities and displayed in many major museums. He also produced artwork for several Frank Zappa album covers. His paintings generally sell between 10 and 50 thousand dollars per work, signed prints generally for at least $50. You can commission a painting on his website, which I find quite fun to visit. Should anyone find any original DRW paintings on e-bay for a few bucks, drop me an e-mail, please!
posted by madamjujujive at 1:06 PM on December 27, 2002
His paintings mainly depict elaborately dressed monkeys, dogs or cats. He's a highly proficient artist, acclaimed in the art world, collected by celebrities and displayed in many major museums. He also produced artwork for several Frank Zappa album covers. His paintings generally sell between 10 and 50 thousand dollars per work, signed prints generally for at least $50. You can commission a painting on his website, which I find quite fun to visit. Should anyone find any original DRW paintings on e-bay for a few bucks, drop me an e-mail, please!
posted by madamjujujive at 1:06 PM on December 27, 2002
Just a minor quibble with the monkeys typing Shakespeare -- It's infinite monkeys and infinite typewriters. It is not an improbably impossibly large number of monkeys. Given the guy's premise that the monkeys type 1 line per second and infinite monkeys typing, it will take exactly 1 second to get the line from Shakespeare he's looking for. Such is the nature of infinity.
And, after flipping a coin and seeing that it came up heads, what is the chance that the coin came up heads? It is 1 - such is the nature of calculating probability for events that have already occurred.
posted by willnot at 1:42 PM on December 27, 2002
And, after flipping a coin and seeing that it came up heads, what is the chance that the coin came up heads? It is 1 - such is the nature of calculating probability for events that have already occurred.
posted by willnot at 1:42 PM on December 27, 2002
Monkeys are funny. Using them as a backhanded way of claiming you've made the case for "intelligent design" isn't funny.
Why, I agree. But how does that mean it's not a highly qualified link? It's SFW, not hate speech of any kind, just a guy expressing his (even considerably prevalent) opinion on the web. What's the problem?
(I know I thought the article was hugely interesting - the follow-up article is also very much worth a read.)
posted by Hjorth at 1:51 PM on December 27, 2002
Why, I agree. But how does that mean it's not a highly qualified link? It's SFW, not hate speech of any kind, just a guy expressing his (even considerably prevalent) opinion on the web. What's the problem?
(I know I thought the article was hugely interesting - the follow-up article is also very much worth a read.)
posted by Hjorth at 1:51 PM on December 27, 2002
Goddamn, I needs me some monkey pictures.
posted by Katemonkey at 1:59 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by Katemonkey at 1:59 PM on December 27, 2002
I might be too cranky, or something else nasty, but I don't see that the listing of eBay auctions comes close to justifying the 'hotcakes' characterization.
posted by billsaysthis at 2:30 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by billsaysthis at 2:30 PM on December 27, 2002
You're right, billy.
Hotcakes are selling at only half the rate of monkey paintings.
posted by ColdChef at 2:34 PM on December 27, 2002
Hotcakes are selling at only half the rate of monkey paintings.
posted by ColdChef at 2:34 PM on December 27, 2002
Glad you like the Rollins site ColdChef. But I was mistaken when I said his signed prints can be had for $50 - try $700+ -- yowza. Guess I will be limiting my appreciation of his works to his website.
posted by madamjujujive at 2:43 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by madamjujujive at 2:43 PM on December 27, 2002
but I don't see that the listing of eBay auctions comes close to justifying the 'hotcakes' characterization
In my defense, I can only say that I did it for the monkeys.
posted by vraxoin at 3:00 PM on December 27, 2002
In my defense, I can only say that I did it for the monkeys.
posted by vraxoin at 3:00 PM on December 27, 2002
vraxoin, the monkeys called and they want their cut from your profiteering.
posted by billsaysthis at 3:30 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by billsaysthis at 3:30 PM on December 27, 2002
If monkeys not be your thing, you could paint cats.
(From this book, an Xmas gift from the little woman.)
posted by Wet Spot at 6:50 PM on December 27, 2002
(From this book, an Xmas gift from the little woman.)
posted by Wet Spot at 6:50 PM on December 27, 2002
Whatever else one may say about this site, it links to Oolong {choose the link from the menu, then hit Back for a surprise}. And we all know
Oolong.
posted by dhartung at 8:10 PM on December 27, 2002
Oolong.posted by dhartung at 8:10 PM on December 27, 2002
I wonder if Donald Roller Wilson can get a percentage of the profits from such blatant theft, or should he just sue for plagiarism, or counterfeiting, or whatever.
How irritating.
posted by hama7 at 8:41 PM on December 27, 2002
How irritating.
posted by hama7 at 8:41 PM on December 27, 2002
Are these paintings depicting African Americans the way I think they are?
posted by banished at 11:23 PM on December 27, 2002
posted by banished at 11:23 PM on December 27, 2002
If monkeys not be your thing, you could paint cats.
This option is highly recommended for schizophrenic artists.
posted by homunculus at 11:44 PM on December 27, 2002
This option is highly recommended for schizophrenic artists.
posted by homunculus at 11:44 PM on December 27, 2002
See, like they're funny because they're really bad and not funny, so like they're really funny. It they were really good then they'd like be not really funny so then we wouldn't be able to say that they're REALLY funny.
posted by HTuttle at 11:39 PM on December 28, 2002
posted by HTuttle at 11:39 PM on December 28, 2002
banished, that thought occurred to me, too. The one with monkey playing a banjo sure looks like a typical genre stereotype, and several of the others are suspicious. In the defense of Donald Roller Wilson, at least, he seems to paint a lot of different animals as humans, and most of them don't look very much like known racist representations of black people.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 4:16 AM on December 29, 2002
posted by Slithy_Tove at 4:16 AM on December 29, 2002
« Older e Fly Guy | The tragedy of private zoos in China Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Using them as a backhanded way of claiming you've made the case for "intelligent design" isn't funny. Re-read your Shakespeare link again.
posted by yhbc at 11:11 AM on December 27, 2002