I Ain't No Square, with My Corkscrew Hair

(Source: rescue-me-raggedyman)

ukfancier:

Favorite Richard Ayoade characters in no particular order:

Dean Learner, Ned Smanks, Saboo, City Gent, Maurice Moss, Joseph 

“All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn’t your pet — it’s your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.” - Joss Whedon

The above quote gets at exactly why I love the ‘Pele’ episode of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy: because it totally understands this about art, and is all about demonstrating how it works.

Everybody spends the whole episode talking about Noel’s art: interpreting it, analyzing it, questioning what’s ambiguous about it or what it might mean—and even he admits to not knowing for sure! They talk about whether it can be marketed, or whether it’s worthy of being put in a frame or just up on the fridge, or whether it’s worthless because some part of it was traced (i.e., a non-original part of the art that might be inspired by somebody else, or a “sample” from/homage to a previous artist—it’s a transformative work, in other words). And these are all facets of how we interact with art.

And, in the end, Pele doesn’t belong to Noel—he’s set free and  physically runs away, off into the jungle on his own, where Noel can’t follow. Noel’s art doesn’t belong to him anymore, because everybody else’s interaction with it has given it a life of its own. Noel is at first aghast and saddened, like any artist whose work has got away from them; it’s scary to realize that you can’t control this thing you made But then he sees how WELL Pele is performing on his own, and he feels pride in realizing how well this thing he made really is—it stands up to scrutiny—and cheers Pele on. You can’t hang on to your art forever, not if you want it to have life beyond you.

In the end, no matter how much they talked about it, only Pele can answer questions about the ambiguities, which is what that final kick is all about. Only the source can determine what’s going on there; the evidence in the work speaks for itself, rather than the artist speaking for the work and telling us what to think. And even then… some questions are eternal and can never be resolved; it’s all a matter of perspective and personal interpretation and context. Is it the ball or the saucer for the cup? We’ll never know, but it isn’t really the definitive ANSWER that’s important, anyway—it’s the process of asking those questions and letting the art come to life.

(Source: electropuff)

cassabian:

Interview 4: Noel Fielding on Luxury Comedy