Bad Seed

Behold one of the weirdest and tackiest and most anticipated (for me) art shows all year-- the MN State Fair Crop Art exhibit! All of these pieces are made entirely of seeds glued onto some kind of panel. What I like most about this whole thing are the juxtapositions.

First of all, very few art exhibits use peg board as a display method, and to find this, you have to go into the horticulture building, about as far from the fine arts building as it can be within the confines of the fairgrounds. It's held in a room off to one side that's walls are lined with of ears of corn and vintage feed sacks. You have to navigate the scarecrow competition and make your way to the back of the room where all the "art" is hung.

Then there is the obsessive nature of it, while at the same time , in some cases, making fun of it. Sorry about the quality of this first one, but check it out -- Bo Diddly, very well done, made of a million tiny seeds, rockin' out-- not very down on the farm. See what I'm sayin'?

This one really embraced the medium thematically. Awesome. Way to go Linda Wing.

I thought this was Cleopatra as portrayed by Dumbo, but I guess it's Ganesha.

Twin Citians of a certain age will remember these guys.

Of course there had to be a Mary.

This one is actually good-- and bonus points for them eating corndogs.

Never has Abe gazed so smolderingly--
"I tell you man it's gonna drive me to drinkin' , I can't stop mackin' on Mary Todd Lincon."

This is atrociously blurry. I really apologize, but this is a perfect example of the whole OCD tongue - in- cheek thing. It's Gnarls Barkley -- which is a very hot hip-hop duo right now most of you have never heard of because you're over twenty-five, and the artist has portrayed them as "American Gothic" stand-ins, and done so by spending untold hours squinting over a board gluing teensy seeds.... That's a long way to go for a joke people.
Props for the crops, word to your mutha.

This one is probably meant to be serious, but it's so cloyingly sweet it nearly nudges over into the creepy zone.

This one was categorized as "wearable art". "Um, ok. You first."

When I saw this I was stunned, Bo Diddly young and old, in this relatively small display of obscure art? But then I remembered, he died this year. I still think this is just mind blowing, the effort involved, and there's no way whoever did this took it super seriously.

And last but not least, "Drop the chalupa pappie."

Hope you're enjoying your Labor Day Weekend. "Dirt Nap" has now officially become "The Crimson Cord", and yesterday all I did all day was research agents and query. Wish me crazy irresistable writing mojo. I'm about jumping out of my skin due to lack of movement, so right now am going to take the bike out for a fast and furious ride. About fifteen miles of Weezer and Jack White ought to do it. Later, maybe a nice loooong kayak with trusty Pam. We'll see.