I'm Flossy

Flossie and the Unicorns



Creepy puppets + acid garage rock + ecstasy infused vocals + fairy tales = Flossie and the Unicorns.

Flossie and the Unicorns is rather hard to describe. They are pretty much a band of puppets, operated by Ms. Pussycat. Rather than playing music that would seem to suit a band of puppets, Flossie and the Unicorns seem to be possessed. They play feverishly and transport the listener into another world. A Technicolor world with ecstasy infused air and very serious dancing.

Some of the puppets in Flossie and the Unicorns are quite creepy. Wrinkly skin, one eye, seams on the outside of fabric and faded clothing are some of their characteristics. Although it seems so weird, the way they look and the sound of their music is why I love them so much. They are high freaking art.

Flossie and the Unicorns break the expectation of the listener. They are described as a band of puppets. With only knowing that tidbit of information, the listener might expect to hear some sort of 'david the gnome' typer music, with pan flutes and crap, and imagine the puppets looking oh so lovely with long flowing locks of gold. In reality, Flossie and the Unicorns are sick and twisted. They have a twisted version of a perfect childhood dream. Deranged and decrepit, but at the same time upbeat and lighthearted, Flossie and the Unicorns manage to not take themselves too seriously, while winning major points on the shock value scale. They take the childhood idea of puppets, and twist it just enough for it to be demented, while retaining the ideal of a 'happy' Mr. Rogers type puppet. Love it!

check them out at:
http://www.skingraftrecords.com/catpages/graft63.html

finally! some original work (high art style)

just finished. not sure exactly why i did this. but i felt like it needed to be done.

ok one more for today.

i couldnt help it. i had to keep researching Jeongmee Yoon. i havnt read much about her work yet, im just looking at all the images.
can you say "crazed gender constructs"?

(sorry for the small size)

They made us this way. (this post is chock full of good information, so watch out!)

please. view this. if you wish, the other adicolor podcasts are quite amazing as well.

incase any of you were wondering, i am totally obcessed with this video specifically. high fucking art (which i have been working on a defination for...coming soon. tomorrow maybe).
here is some info:
director: charlie white
music: greg weeks
producer: stephen sills

im also including 3 photos. Charlie White is a photographer (with amazing puppets) when he isnt directing amazing mini art films for Adidas. This piece made me think of Jeongmee Yoon and this "Pink Project" photo series. High Art.
__________________________________________________________
Another good artist to look up if you want to hash out the high art/low art, fine art/porn topic is Richard Kern. Good man. Also, you must read Avant Garde and Kitch by Clemet Greenberg (1939), and Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag (i think i already mentioned this one.
Im off to do homework.

equasion.

taxidermy coyote+glitter+photos of glittering assholes=high art.

wait and see. photo sketches coming soon.

Some quotes/images to think about

So, im sitting at the VCU library in all its beige and neo-weirdo-modernist knockoff decor glory. The Walmart of higher education at its very best. I just finished reading (for the second time) Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation, an essay on the hinderance of interpretation on art. Here are some quotes to think about.

It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The mystery of the world is in the visible, not the invisible. -Oscar Wilde

In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expence of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of intellect upon art. -Sontag

To interpret is to impoverish, to deplete the world---in order to set up a shadow world of "meanings". It is to turn THE world into THIS world (as if there were any other). -Sontag

Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. -Sontag (best quote ever. this is my bretheren!)

What is important now is to recover our senses. We must learn to SEE more, to HEAR more, to FEEL more.

So basically, we need to shut up, stop thinking, stop being so goddamn pretentious and use our senses and feelings more. Why didnt i think of this. So for your VIEWING pleasure, here are some images that i respond to on a sensory/emotional level. Enjoy.
ps- i seem to be attracted to red right now......and things that glitter.

Brief Cultural Commentary

( Disregard the Mickey Roonie picture, too lazy to edit to remove him. Just look at the old man wearing the plastic bag)

Sometimes, when I have nothing else better to do, I like to google image a random term and peruse the images that come up just to see what's out there on the internet. Tonight, I decided to google image 'walmart' and I found treat for the eyes on the 35th page. An old man wearing a walmart plastic bag as some sort of daisy duke overall ensemble. Amazed by his beauty, I had to post him up here. He is really something to behold. After thinking about him for a second, I had a thought. Aren't we really all half naked, exploited, and covered in walmart? Marinate on that.

High and Low Art

Sandy Skoglund- Revenge of the Goldfish, 1981

Definition found at ArtLex.

high art - Fine art, also known as beaux-arts, art that is of universal transcendence, having withstood the test of time and representing the epitome of artistic achievement, as opposed to low art, which is also known as mass culture. Until recently, a distinction was typically made between high and low art. Traditionally, high art consists of the meticulous expression in fine materials of refined or noble sentiment, appreciation of the former depending on such things as intelligence, social standing, educated taste, and a willingness to be challenged. Low art is the shoddy manufacturing in inferior materials of superficial kitsch, simply catering to popular taste, unreflective acceptance of realism, and a certain "couch potato" mentality. Although many earlier artists took inspiration from popular and folk art, the most systematic approaches towards blurring the differences between high and low art were taken by Cubism, Dada and Surrealism. Pop Art further weakened the distinction, and artists as various as Jean-Michel Basquiat (American, 1960-1988), Jeff Koons (American, 1955-) and the Guerrilla Girls (American), influenced strongly by the different branches of postmodern thought, have dealt it the further blows.

My definition of low art:

Low Art- Recently made art that relies solely on conventions and art forms of the past. Conforms to universal standards of beauty and does not challenge ideas of normality. Example, Thomas Kinkade.



The art lex definition would pretty much classify Thomas Kinkade's "Blessing of Christmas" high art. It uses sturdy time tested materials, oil on canvas, and would universally be considered 'attractive', which makes paintings like these a facet of dentist waiting rooms and offices alike. It my opinion, Thomas Kinkade should be considered low art. It's uber conventional, boring, bland, and doesn't reflect culture at all. But, to each their own.

MTV, aka "Thigh Marketing"/Postmoderism

postmodern: adj.
1. noting or pertaining to architecture of the late 20th century, appearing in the 1960s, that consciously uses complex forms, fantasy, and allusions to historic styles, in contrast to the austere forms and emphasis on utility of standard modern architecture.
2. extremely modern; cutting-edge: postmodern kids who grew up on MTV.

this is an Elodie Pong image. It is a still from a video and also should be considered "high art" because if its extreme engulfment into the postmodern movement as well as MTV and the kids who grew up on it. If there is a such thing as the rejection of modernism and subverting the standard/not standard/whatever, this is it. I saw some of her shit at Art Basel Miami. I missed the Stripper Panda video though...the mojitos were free.

ps- i made a video piece about my dog today......and i also composed my first musique concrete score. itll all be on youtube soon.

An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have - Andy Warhol



Well Mr. Warhol, riddle me this. We all have some sort of 'need' for a salt and pepper shaker, but does the pointlessness of it being decorated as a choco baby eating a watermelon drive the creator of this piece into the artist category and therefore make this a piece of art? I think so.

I don't think you're ready for this jelly

Gaymonn in all his chocolaty covered glory. Gaymonn is a 6'3 black man who posed as a woman in French Vouge, wears long silky black wigs, and is so confident in his femininty that he doesn't need breasts to be a woman. If Gaymonn ain't high art, then I don't know what is.

Musique Concrete (Shouts out to Nia!)

Musique concrete - a style of avant-garde music that uses environmental and non-inherently-musical sounds to create music.

Beautiful, complex, innovative. Musique concrete confronts the paradigm of music and examines the beauty of sounds in our environment, natural or synthetic. This youtube video plays the first musique concrete piece, composed in 1948 by Pierre Schaeffer. Enjoy

One more by my boyfriend

i went to grad school with this guy. i think he needs to make a video piece that involves girlscouts. His youtube name is videocooker.

inspiring, actually.

The maker of this video is my new boyfriend.

hmmmm

oh, this is the epitomy of High Art:

www.dotcomandshit.org

Proud Day

Welcome to the High Art Connection, started by Andrea and Nia. This blog shall make you wet your pants in joy.

Use this to post amazingness and glittering tidbits of high class (or perverted/crass/lewd/kitch) art or cultural craziness.

On that note....

Someday we'll find it
The High Art Connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.


Sincerely,
Andrea and Nia