Art At Its Finest

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 23645 – 1223

(NB: If you’re not reading this on https://thehapswithherb.com/ or on the WordPress Reader from that site, you’re reading an unauthorized copy.)

Here’s the haps:

One of the things about writing to an audience that is much more educated than you are is that you always know there’s somebody out there who actually knows what they’re talking about. I’m not that guy. I’m not educated like that however I think that, over the years, I have maybe gained a few street smarts, and I probably have seen some scams in my time and I think that I can tell you I know a scam when I see one.

However, I also know that I may be talking out of my hat because there are so many of my followers, my readers here that do have education and high education and that some of you guys probably know a lot more about art than what I ever will. I do know when I like what I’m looking at and I know when I am not even going to ever understand what I’m looking at because it just makes no sense. I also know a scam when I see one. Not all scammers are Nigerian princes.

And if I may go on record, I do not hate all art and I do not think that all art is worthless. One of the most beautiful pieces of art that I can think of right off the top of my head is Winslow Homer’s The Veteran In A New Field. From the first time I saw it I thought that this was just an awesome painting:

In 2019 I wrote about a piece of art  that was that was just amazing and incredible and then a couple years later, in 2022, I wrote another about a different piece of art and folks, I think I am really in the wrong business.

In the 2019 post I spoke about a piece of art that was called “Comedian” by an artist named Maurizio Cattelan. It was a banana duct taped to a wall. At that time when I wrote the first blog post it had sold for $120,000 US at an art museum in Miami. At the time I offered to my readers a homemade craft kit for only $60,000 plus free shipping. You guys should have taken me up on it when you had the opportunity.  Catellan’s piece, to my idea appropriately called “Comedian,” is going on auction at Sotheby’s for 1 million to one and a half million dollars, US. You don’t get the original banana or any banana, you get a roll of duct tape, official instructions for installing the work, and a certificate of authenticity from the artist.

I say its name, “Comedian” is appropriate because somebody is laughing all the way to the bank.

I’m sorry, but serious things like anything by Winslow Homer are real art. Of course, I think there should always be room for things like this, Coolidge’s “Dogs Playing Poker – A Friend In Need,” which is real art as well: