cutesy art shit on the internet

like this -

http://www.heystuff.com/

there is SO MUCH of this stuff and it's all made by different people, yet there's this.. this VIBE that runs through all of it that is like kryptonite to me. i can't define it exactly. it's all very "clean". all ooze and pustules and wrongness has been scrubbed away. it's like Flash animation or something. i'm ranting and not very well, i apologize. i just hate all this shit forever. the reason i even looked at that site in the first place is because i have realized that i need a big fucking THING on my wall, and suddenly it occurred to me why paintings exist, or at least why paintings once existed, which was to cover up space on your walls and look nice and balance your room out. i thought it would be relatively easy to go find some internet site selling cheap cool prints but it's all this CUTESY SHIT. ALL OF IT@!

oh and hey, heystuff.com dudes! it's spelled "STATIONERY"

pretty sure this is a website aimed at suburban mothers, don't fret.

you know what it is? it's like somebody who vaguely remembers mike kelley's art and then thinking "you know what the problem with this is, it just needs a good wash"

xpost haha maybe. i suck at the internet.

judging by the local art openings i go too every now and again, "cutesy shit" is kind of the reigning aesthetic right now. maybe with a light 'subversive edge' thrown in.

that makes it even worse!! like by a factor of a million!

tracer u otm re this shit

don't get me started, don't EVEN get me started

i'd love to see some good old fashioned abstract expressionism some time, but it's all old-timey cartoons of sad children running through cloudy fields, with like maybe a crow bleeding on them or an angel showing its butt cheeks or something

http://www.threadless.com

http://www.etsy.com

ya this all seems to be... products for toddlers

i mean i agree in theory tho

especially shitty minimalist posters for star wars movies and stuff

a lot of this stuff does surely appeal to moms, but lets be entirely clear here people, they are URBAN MOMS

is there a bark magazine, but for children

I'm alright with this to be honest:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_n-jfUbCQkIM/SUtLfHs0meI/AAAAAAAACI0/PXe8IsrfqMY/s400/little_prince_elephant.jpg

this dark coincidence just pood out of facebook http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/maureen-amp-luis-pondside-lily-pad-house-tour-128107

oh lord apt therapy

said aesthetic speaks of false modesty and embarrassment

you know what it is? it's like somebody who vaguely remembers mike kelley's art and then thinking "you know what the problem with this is, it just needs a good wash"

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 20:57 (16 minutes ago)

Isn't that more or less Clement Greenberg's definition of kitsch? I mean that's basically what the site sells - cute kitschy stuff for you home. It sort of reminds me of Threadless except maybe aiming even more twee and a little older.

kitsch implies a wink and a lot of this stuff isn't really winky though. but i know what you mean. there is an element running through it that "it's just a bit of fun" which i think was demonstrably proven on these very message boards way back in the mists of time to be a phrase that always connotes something horrible.

"Just a bit of fun"

here's another example -

http://www.spincollective.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

it's just... it's swallowing the entire world.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2u5ggpl.jpg

if you're going to indict this stuff, you'd have to also include:
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/table_of_malcontents/images/skel01.jpg
which is equally mired in nostalgia.

http://postercabaret.com/productimages/Bike4detail.jpg

Philip this is totally the thread for indicting cutesy art shit on the internet so if you think that fits then this is definitely the place to do it.

not sure why the petit prince showed up upthread?

can you imagine going to someone's house and they have a wall sticker that says keep calm and carry on

http://mailordercats.com/

in the bathroom maybe

xp

lol

little prince feels like the genesis for this. like you read it, and it stayed with you.

fort thunder stuff feels less cutesy than just plain messy, but this is what almost all
indie comics look like now, though. messy nostalgia.

this is the reigning aesthetic for tv ads marketed at middle class ppl

reading an etsy seller spotlight or two may be educational

http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/featured-seller-swanbones-10209

"Sw@n B0nes Thea+er" is the title I gave to the fragile shadowland where I can play freely with different characters and scenarios, seeing what strangeness occurs between the two. I live in Kansas City, Missouri with my beau and two wonderful, shaggy muses: a dog, Wynsome, and a cat, Hildegarde. I have a small forest in my yard with a secret garden, and windows that look onto my overgrown cottage garden and potager garden; I will spend hours staring into these for inspiration.

you can find websites that sell stuff like this that appeal to pretty much any taste

this one happens to be twee

also http://www.regretsy.com/

or maybe The different kinds of tea that cats like

only 100 ppl read the little prince but everyone who did then went out and started an etsy shop

amateurist i have been looking for websites that sell stuff that appeal to my taste but all i find is this cutesy shit!

give us an example of your taste!

i'll be honest - i never liked the little prince

it's like Flash animation or something.

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, September 28, 2010 4:52 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

flash and generally the limitations of the net are a huge influence on and cause of this shit 4 sure

guys I am setting up an etsy shop while I read this thread ;_;

gotta confess, given the choice between messy nostalgia and tidy nostalgia, gonna go with tidy most of the time.
http://i28.tinypic.com/5evq11.jpg
(though must admit the 'flash'-iness of the title sequence already feels dated)

x-post to self - but I've been making jewelry while unemployed and I am poor so I might as well sell it, right? :( shit. I have an etsy site.

You're making jewelry, E, that is different!

My mom has started buying me etsy prints & stuff for Christmas every year. Well, it's better than her thinking I am still into Tim Burton.

ice cr?m that is exactly the shit i'm talking about

it is everywhere

kitsch implies a wink and a lot of this stuff isn't really winky though. but i know what you mean. there is an element running through it that "it's just a bit of fun" which i think was demonstrably proven on these very message boards way back in the mists of time to be a phrase that always connotes something horrible.

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, September 28, 2010 9:19 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

gotta confess, given the choice between messy nostalgia and tidy nostalgia, gonna go with tidy most of the time.

I don't think the messy/tidy distinction makes sense. I think you're talking about nostalgia for modernism vs. nostalgia for other things that aren't modernism. I think modernist nostalgia can be really annoying sometimes because the people who indulge in it rarely recognize that it IS a form of nostalgia. It's like if you look at something like Dwell magazine they'll criticize things like pseudo spanish revival architecture that's totally divorced from its original context and therefore inauthentic. Yet they act as if modernism is still a going concern and not a similarly out-of-context fantasy aesthetic for yuppies to buy into.

In other words, making a Eames-esque mid century modern house or Saul Bass style title sequence in 2010 is every bit as kitschy and postmodern as any other stylistic revival.

Well yeah, I agree. But I think the principles that those guys founded were later more-or-less perfected by true mass retailers like Ikea.

yeah

I feel like this might be one of those questions that answers itself in the asking... but just to drive home the point, I'd speculate that there's something reassuring about seeing 'distinction' emerge from such an undifferentiated 'level playing field'.

I wonder how that relates to the "I think the problem w/this aesthetic is that it's so incredibly easy to imitate." upthread?

It's hard to argue against a undifferentiated 'level playing field' without tripping into rockist-type pitfalls. That said, the originators (or revivalists) of this style didn't use CS5 and spit out Jim Flora ripoffs 20 times a day. Not that the process makes it better or worse, but I'd make a point that painting this stuff really forced these guys to closely analyze each choice they made.

It's hard to argue against a undifferentiated 'level playing field' without tripping into rockist-type pitfalls.

I mentioned rockism in the sense that arguing that tactile art > digital art was basically the same as rap or electronica isn't 'real' music - valuing the creative process above the final product.

Sorry if that doesn't make sense. Not enough coffee yet.

oh no I gotcha -- it makes more sense on the macro-level of the thread as a whole than the micro-level context of that particular quote

people who make this art love edward gorey

old-timey cartoons of sad children running through cloudy fields, with like maybe a crow bleeding on them or an angel showing its butt cheeks or something

this is A+++ excelsior yoga flame pinpoint logistical beatdown for all time

also all of this stuff is potential tat material

How about this?

http://www.newbloodart.com/

That just looks like run-of-the-mill shitty art, tbh.

http://www.newbloodart.com/uploads/new_foodft_180.jpg

food for thought

i found a "quality" print site but it's mainly big photographs of new york, jack vettriano, jasper johns targets and some picasso blue period shit, etc etc etc

i find it fascinating what makes the cut on these classic art print sites - there's a canon that basically includes greatest hits of impressionism, expressionism, a few warhols, a lot of magritte, a whole fuck-ton of modern nouveau thin-blooded expressionism (i.e. abstract hotel art), and a metric ass-load of photographs of like, audrey hepburn and the flatiron building

i guess it's "the wisdom of crowds"

this site - http://www.artnet.com/ is awesome but 99% of the stuff is unaffordable (though i did find a signed gerd arntz print for £150)

(sorry, UNsigned)

artnet seems to have a rep as a 'legit' Art World kind of site. They also do a lot of stuff with auction and price tracking, have a lot of database info about artists, etc.

tracer i have an idea--make your own art--hang it on the walls--paint it on the walls even--go wild--your imagination is your guide--

yeah i know this is what i should do, I'm just not very good at it

aw tracer im sure youre very good

whats important is trying

get a few pieces of used tinfoil, paper towels and some gray paint, you can whip up a kiefer in like a half hour

fake keifers are best executed outdoors, as burning them for a little while helps

How about Hatch prints?

http://store.countrymusichalloffame.com/categories/Hatch-Show-Print/

Is there an Affordable Art Show in London? There's one in NY this weekend.

it's not really my thing Virginia but that stuff's pretty cool. along those lines i'm a big fan of Yee-Haw - http://www.etsy.com/shop/yeehaw - some of it tips into cutesy territory but my hometown bias prevails

whaddya know - http://www.affordableartfair.co.uk/

I think their idea of affordable might be a bit different than yours and mine, but it could be interesting to check out.

I like Yee-Haw; I love letterpress so much.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs330.ash2/61075_148937928478239_103496386355727_229075_1743174_n.jpg

Tracer, I can't recommend the Affordable Art Fair. I went during the free hours and it seemed like a lot of junk all in one place.

that sucks. was it all actually totally not affordable as well?

am considering this deal where you send a digital photo off and they print it onto canvas somehow and send that to you

http://www.bellemaison23.com/2009/12/inspiration-for-your-walls.html

am considering this deal where you send a digital photo off and they print it onto canvas somehow and send that to you

I did that on CanvasPop - I got a coupon for like $30. I chose a really basic package and it came to like $95 or something, so I was a bit annoyed because I wouldn't have done it if not for the coupon. However, they did a good job.

inspiration-for-your-balls moreliek

i like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JwKcIkr8tIo/SyII5JcB0-I/AAAAAAAAHy8/hATb9sS_iTA/s1600-h/WALL+DECOR+IDEAS_5.JPG

but jayzus @ the rest of that stuff.. i mean the purple shit in the second photo??? what????

franny yikes i didn't think it would be that much.

a nice collection of Charley Harper and his wife and kids art in this estate sale... would really like that slug laying eggs work
http://www.ebthauctions.org/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?ebth1/category/ARTWORK

lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XM3vWJmpfo

looooool

haha nice twist

i see what they did there and approve

Yeah, this is one of my favorite things to gnash my teeth at, all the Emily Strange clones and most of the "artists" featured on BoingBoing. It's just Margaret Keane all over again.

Hahah maybe I do need to watch Portlandia.

Do they have to go nuts at the end of every sketch? Or is that just this one and the "Yeah I read that" one.

fuck emily the strange, does anyone know who ramona is?

no

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62686466/hand-painted-side-plate-eat-my-cake-in

i dont see the big deal, people like cute things, dont go to etsy man

yeah this seems to be one of those things where you are looking on shitty websites and finding shitty things.

feels sortof inevitable

http://kioskkiosk.com/collections/sale/products/noas-calendar

this makes me pretty IA

FEckingBRilliantUARtsYtwit