Your Not-So-Daily WTF: Artistic Merit
Posted by Qais Fulton
When faced with work of this magnitude it’s best not to ask questions. It really is best to simply sit back, and allow the absolutely dumbfounding imagery to wriggle and slime its way around the glistening folds of your brain, eventually taking up permanent residence in the wrinkle directly to the left of all the words to the theme song from “The Fresh Prince.”
But I just can’t help myself.
I’m not particularly interested in why a person would do something such as this. The answer to that much is simple: rainy Sunday afternoon arts and crafts projects get out of hand all the time. What I’m more interested in, almost fascinated by really, is the minutiae of the act.
Is there a specific reason for the order in which each banana is lit? Is this a crucial element in delivering the larger artistic statement behind the work? Why the face? Why not, say, the knees, or perhaps the lower third of the left arm? And lastly — the most revealing inquiry of all — am I the only one that just spent the last twenty minutes pondering the deeper meaning of what may very well be the cornerstone of a soon-to-be ex-househusband’s insanity plea?
Banana Fireworks [Youtube : William Lamson]
Categories: Your Daily WTF
Posted at 6:55 pm on January 9, 2009
14 Comments -
I especially liked it when the nose went off! Thinking a chain of fireworks together to blow the outer rim would have been an extra fancy touch.
Comment by luanne — January 9, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
We all love reruns… i was thinking of doing this for halloween and making a mess in my office.
Comment by Narayana — January 9, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
At first with all the long bananas sitting there I thought it was going to be something dirty, but then the bananas exploded one by one…and well that was even better…and still dirty, but not in the sense I thought it would be…
Comment by Naveed — January 9, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
I feel like kneeling down and praying to this exploding
godbananahead.But his ‘Vital Capacity’ performance (http://www.williamlamson.com/#/work/video_work/works/5) that I’d seen some time before, is a much more moving, flinch-inducing work of art, IMHO.
Comment by Optical — January 9, 2009 @ 7:49 pm
And my new year’s resolution is to learn basic HTML, too.
Comment by Optical — January 9, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
Like the self flagellating monks of Early Christianity, this person seeks to be closer to his own version of the banana godhead by using a uniquely 20th Century method. Very Funny, too.
Comment by BobDog — January 9, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
Optical – Fixed!
Comment by Ross Rosenberg — January 9, 2009 @ 10:57 pm
BobDog, in fact this is an ancient form of Zen Buddhism known as the Exploding Banana-Head Zen School. The school was founded in response to a schism that split its parent schools, Beef Jerky Roundhouse-kick school and Wompa Rocket Attack school. Both parent schools were renowned for their baffling use of feces-based sutras and the gibbering madness that followed forthwith. In fact, it was the divining of feces that connected the schools. However, in the 14th century, conflict arose between the parent schools due to the discovery that while Beef Jerky Roundhouse-kick school utilized fermented gorilla dung, Wompa Rocket Attack school read fresh wompa dung. As you can imagine, this shocking revelation split the two schools. A small, determined cabal made up of adepts from both sides were able to reconcile any misgivings about the use of fermented gorilla dung as opposed to fresh wompa dung, and thus the Exploding Banana- Head Zen school was founded. In turn, the school became renowned for the disturbingly short life expectancy of its members due to the use of unstable compounds during early banana-head explosions. Little else about the mysterious Exploding Banana-Head Zen School is known.
Comment by jup? — January 10, 2009 @ 11:56 am
You already posted this a while back!
But that doesn’t make it any less confounding…
Comment by Kingfisher — January 10, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
I think what disturbs / intrigues me most is the ponderous deliberation between the explosion of one banana and the lighting of another.
Comment by Elusive — January 10, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
@Kingfisher: I know, I’m sorry. I realized my mistake once I’d already posted.
@Elusive: I’m so glad I’m not the only one.
Comment by Qais Fulton — January 10, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
@Elusive: Speaking as someone who has set off fireworks in my teeth before, I would guess that the waiting period between bananas is just to let the ringing in the ears die down a bit.
Comment by Schlega — January 11, 2009 @ 5:06 am
@jup?
Uh, Thanks.
Comment by BobDog — January 11, 2009 @ 8:20 pm
dear zod, why!?!
why did i watch that entire thing?
Comment by groonk — January 12, 2009 @ 2:27 am