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YSaC, Vol. 243: Burning crosses are not warm and fuzzy.

Written by

drmk

in

Warm your heart and soothe your soul – $25

243b

Kira sends this in, saying, “Yikes, because nothing says heartwarming like the KKK riding off into the sunset….”

Is it just me, or does it look like they’re riding alpacas? Or maybe tauntauns?

I’ve blurred the phone number and link to the artist’s home page, because after looking at the other works displayed there, I honestly don’t think that “Early Racist Art” was quite the genre s/he was going for — although I can’t figure out what it would be otherwise! Any ideas?

Comments

26 responses to “YSaC, Vol. 243: Burning crosses are not warm and fuzzy.”

  1. dogface Avatar
    dogface

    I found the original ad and was looking through this dude’s Flickr and homepage. On his Flickr, this particular pic is set to private, so maybe he doesn’t want his parents knowing he does drawings for the Klan or something.

  2. dogface Avatar
    dogface

    So I found a picture of the artist on her Flickr (not a dude…), and yeah. Considering she’s black, I don’t think she’s doing this because she’s a fan of the Klan (Ew, rhyming…). Maybe it’s a political statement or something?

    1. drmk Avatar
      drmk

      Again, the reason I didn’t post a link to her artwork was because I didn’t want people to get bent out of shape about this particular piece and email her, given her ethnicity — which I didn’t want to bring up or make a big deal of.

      I really wanted to focus on this particular piece of art, and to focus on what it is SUPPOSED to be as opposed to what it LOOKS like it is.

      1. dogface Avatar
        dogface

        With the internet, it’s not that hard to find her contact info (or anything else she chooses to put up on the internet); if people were that bent out of shape, they’d go ahead and do it whether or not they had to find her email or it was given to them. I’m more baffled than anything else, so I wanted to find her gallery to figure out what the hell is up with this. Frankly, since her ad, Flickr, and gallery are available for public viewing on the internet, they’re fair game for anyone to look at and form an opinion about. Opinions in and of themselves are harmless. I’m not going email her or anything because stirring shit with complete strangers is fairly ignorant.

        1. drmk Avatar
          drmk

          Agreed — I just didn’t want people sending her email after looking at this one piece – especially since after looking at her profile and her other work, I was sure that “KKK at Sunset” wasn’t what she was going for here. If the email address was readily available here, I was worried that someone less willing to do the research would send her something offensive.

          Besides, removing the contact information from the image isn’t any different from removing the Craigslist contact email from other posts, and I do that too.

      2. dogface Avatar
        dogface

        That said, I don’t blame you for wanting to keep people from harassing her. Like I said, stirring shit with strangers just because you’re pissed is ignorant.

  3. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    My best guess is princesses wearing big conical hats. Those could be veils hanging down behind them. Still can’t peg the species they’re riding.

  4. PrincessLuceval Avatar
    PrincessLuceval

    If you squint just so, the second one from the right looks like a disgruntled garden gnome. Maybe those aren’t horses at all – they’re the legs of the creatures!

  5. blake Avatar
    blake

    I didnt really see the klan thing.
    They’re clearly intended as trees. It’s just hard to tell because it’s a poor excuse for art

    I think the bigger issue is that someone is trying to sell art that looks like it is made by a 1st grader with poor motor skills.

  6. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    I see ships with white sails on a red sea….Wow this is kind of like a Rorschach ink blot test….

  7. Colleen in MA Avatar
    Colleen in MA

    I’m with Jackie on this one – I thought maybe some fairytale creatures with large pointy hats and veils down their backs. Did I get that from a Disney cartoon? Isn’t this the value of art – getting people to talk? Although actually we’re not so much talking about the piece as we’re WONDERING about the piece!

  8. MoxieHart Avatar
    MoxieHart

    Was this done by the same person who did the Leprechaun in Mobile artist sketch?

  9. Maughta Avatar
    Maughta

    Well, my first thought was wolves howling at the moon (I grew up in the west) but now all I see are klansmen. It’s like the candlestick or profiles of two people facing each other; you can’t see both at the same time. Aaaargh, now my brain hurts.

  10. Clovis Sangrail Avatar
    Clovis Sangrail

    I see klansmen riding chocobos.

  11. Mary Ann Avatar
    Mary Ann

    I must confess, I see gnomes as well. Maybe these are Travelocity’s roaming gnomes?

  12. blake Avatar
    blake

    On closer inspection, all i can see is cone-hat horseback riders.
    I give up. I almost want to buy it just for closer inspection.

  13. Felicia Avatar
    Felicia

    Are they riding raptors?

  14. andboo Avatar
    andboo

    She named the file klu_klux_klan_in_the_moonlight – so I think what it looks like is indeed what it is.

    1. Jerod Poore Avatar
      Jerod Poore

      In that case I guess one can soothe one’s soul by using the picture as a dart board or for some other form of target practice. Warming one’s heart could come from burning it.

      God invented copy machines in case one wished to keep the original for repeated exercises in soul soothing and heart warming.

    2. drmk Avatar
      drmk

      Wow. In that case, yup, that’s definitely heartwarming.

      Maybe she was trying for post-modern irony?

  15. NevelC Avatar
    NevelC

    Maybe it just warms your heart to see them leaving. I’m pretty sure those are the ass ends of their horses.

    1. Monica Hamburg Avatar
      Monica Hamburg

      I’m kinda going with this theory as well.

  16. Le Avatar
    Le

    I’m definitely seeing Klan-like robes. However, there is a religious garment called a capirote that is worn in Spain during Holy Week that are the basis for the Klan’s pointy hats; maybe this is what the artist is going for. (Every time I saw those hats, I had to remind myself that they meant something significantly different from what I associated them with…)

    Old school capirotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_025.jpg

    New school capirotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Capuchones.jpg

  17. Sidekickboy Avatar
    Sidekickboy

    I think perhaps she’s influenced by the content of various works of Philip Guston (see, “The Studio,” “City Limits,” “Outskirts,” etc.) and the style of my 7 year old niece’s early endeavors (see, “I Love You Mom,” “This is Me and a Unicorn,” “I Love You Mom” [part of a series]).

  18. Christian Avatar
    Christian

    Clearly, they’re Klansmen riding on raptors in honor of Jesus.

    http://tinyurl.com/57ytzq

    1. NotMyName Avatar
      NotMyName

      No, they are multiple pyramid-heads riding velociraptors. Maybe.

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