Happy Weekend!

Not only is it the start of a luxurious three day weekend, but it's also my birthday! Can it get any better?! In celebration of that fact, here are three artists and their vaguely birthdayish work:

1.Wayne Thiebaud and his cakes (all of them!)

2. The balloon man, Jason Hackenwerth

3. Claes Oldenburg, 'Dropped Cone'

 Happy Labor Day Weekend, Friends!

When Is "Real" Authentic?

OK, I admit it. If I wasn't painfully aware of just how tacky fake flowers and fruit were, I would buy arm loads from every Michael's and Pottery Barn I happened past. The bottom line though is that they are just things trying to be other things, and posers are never cool. It is possible though to pay homage to some particular thing in a reproduction by making certain changes.

A Functional Change:

These ceramic plates elevate a common object by borrowing the aesthetic of another common object.

A Conceptual Change:

Elaine Tin Nyo's 

Tete de Moine Cake addresses issues

 of "liability, replication and the integrity of an artist’s work." The work was displayed but not available for consumption in a

 six month installation at the Phillips Collection. 

The Change of Scale:

Claes Oldenburg's 

Spoonbridge and Cherry is a classic example of how altering the size and context of an object creates an entirely new thing.

Real things are authentic by virtue of being themselves. Reproductions are just copies unless they involve a change of function, concept or context.