This Hieronymous Bosch is heavy.
August 21, 2009 4:54 PM   Subscribe

The Seven Deadly Sins by Dan Lydersen (on sale here [scroll down] with details and IDs of all references) is a modern homage to this work by Bosch. Bonus points if you identify the source of this post's title.
posted by yiftach (15 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Art and Religion should totally get married. They really should. Two living as cheaply as one, so much more convenient to visit.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:09 PM on August 21, 2009 [1 favorite]




I didn't mean it like that.
posted by shoesfullofdust at 5:56 PM on August 21, 2009


I'm just going to guess it's from Hylozoic by Rudy Rucker but I'm not sure.
posted by d1rge at 6:03 PM on August 21, 2009


I always thought that film gets short changed in comparison to its direct competition. Tommy Lee Jones did a competent job, the annoying daughter isn't actually that annoying, and it's more in the classic disaster movie, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake mold.
posted by Punkey at 6:44 PM on August 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'd like to buy a vowel, Pat.
posted by nosila at 8:00 PM on August 21, 2009


l'll put a bid in on slot...aw screw it. zzzzz
posted by Smedleyman at 9:26 PM on August 21, 2009


Indeed, shoes, indeed. I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the theater who laughed at that joke. It's the only line of dialogue I remember from the movie, and it always makes me chuckle.

I heartily agree, Punkey. Whenever I run across it on TV, I always stick with it for at least a little while so I can watch some of my favorite LA landmarks destroyed by lava.

(Visual for those who haven't seen this cinematic masterpiece: the dialogue is from the film Volcano (linked by Punkey) and is spoken by the two guards as they are carrying a huge framed Bosch painting out of the museum (LACMA, IIRC) to save it from being destroyed by the lava.)

Thanks for playing, everyone!
posted by yiftach at 10:01 PM on August 21, 2009


It seems that paintings that are created in homage to other paintings always lack the very thing that made the original painting great in the first place. Namely originality.
posted by Hickeystudio at 4:06 AM on August 22, 2009


The pop references seem a little clumsy to me, but then I always think bringing movie characters and celebrities into artwork seems tricky.
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:13 AM on August 22, 2009


> It seems that paintings that are created in homage to other paintings always lack the very thing that made the original painting great in the first place. Namely originality.

You need to work on your understanding of art. There is no such thing as originality in the way you idealize it, and all paintings are created in homage to other paintings in one way or another. This just brings the homage to the surface.
posted by languagehat at 6:10 AM on August 22, 2009


languagehat, I can assure you that my understanding of art is sufficient enough to stand by my previous statement. The painting posted - while well painted, albeit a bit cartoony for my taste - appears clumsy and juvenile next to the original. Just as Picasso's take on Valesquez's Las Meninas does.

The difference between works inspired by other great works and works painted as a homage is distinct. A notable example being Manet's inspired take of Goyas third of May. There are innumerable other examples.

As far as there being no such thing as originality, that's debatable, but I understand you're point, however I disagree. However I agree with the statement that all works are created in homage in one way or another. Shoulders of giants and all of that.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to taste.
posted by Hickeystudio at 3:30 AM on August 23, 2009


OK, I have no problem with what you just wrote, and I'm sorry I was so irritable (hey, it's hot here). I thought you were making a much more simplistic statement about "originality" than you were. (I guess it might have helped if I'd gone to your profile page and seen that you were an artist.) Anyway, I agree that this painting appears clumsy and juvenile next to the original; of course, it's hard to compete with Bosch...
posted by languagehat at 6:25 AM on August 23, 2009


I wonder what the folks who looked at the Bosch painting when it was first installed thought about it. Might it have been something like, "Mine Gott, vot es dat?" or like my wife when she first walked into a gallery where there was a huge Morris Lewis Unfurled painting hanging on the wall opposite and stopped dead in her tracks and then turned to me and said, "Oh, now I see what you've been talking about."
posted by donfactor at 11:08 AM on August 23, 2009


It's near impossible to compete with Bosch, particularly if you've seen the original works themselves. It's obvious that the artist is question spent alot of time on that piece, and knows how to wield a brush, just the whole cartoony pop culture deal isn't my bag. I can't help but wonder how different the painting would have looked if he spent as much time carefully considering the subject matter as opposed to paying homage. As a fan of Bosch, clockwork orange and Tim Burton - I wanted to like that painting. I just couldn't though.

No worries languagehat. I hear it's real hot back home. It's raining here in the UK. I cannot surmise with any degree of authority as to whether or not you are indeed a "cranky old jackass", but anyone who is a fan of Blind Willie Johnson and Seamus Heaney has tastes that run congruent to my own, and consequently can't be that bad.

I teach art as well as create it, and it's difficult to teach students the difference between being inspired by works and paying homage. Sometime the homage works though. Gigers homage to Bocklin springs to mind.

Never been a fan of Morris Louis though. Theory dictating practice has never been my cup of tea. But once again, it all boils down to taste.
posted by Hickeystudio at 11:56 AM on August 23, 2009


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