August 26, 2012

More amateur art restoration...

... in the inimitable style of Cecilia Jimenez.



IN THE COMMENTS: John Lynch says:
"The Scream," looks the same.
LOL. And Mitch H. says, "By definition, she is not inimitable." Yes, good point. Now that she's done it, it's easily imitated. What was hard was being that hilariously bad in the first place. She's a true original in that regard. She — deservedly! — has a lot of fans, and I count myself as one of them.

30 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...

That poor woman:

Laughingstock of the world,...

Mitch H. said...

By definition, she is not inimitable. Everyone's imitating her, quite successfully at that. Or terribly, if that's a better term for what they're doing.

KCFleming said...

I'm with Crack here; the pics are indeed funny but I feel bad for the little old lady.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

"The Scream," looks the same.

Hilarious.

Anonymous said...

Prof. The WashPost travel section has a nice story on Madison today, 8/26. I read it at the brunch with super-K-street consultants. We were celebrating the biggest defeat of the GOP. Every district, every state will go for Obama-Biden, the best and greatest POTUS and VPOTUS in our history.

Tonight we are having a dinner at the Oval Room. May be people reading this blog can join us.

Bob said...

And the poor woman isn't making a single Euro off of her sudden fame. She's probably still aghast at the reaction to what she did.

What would Jesus say? Something similar indeed happened in his life:

3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

edutcher said...

The William Hung of the art world

Ann Althouse said...

"That poor woman: Laughingstock of the world,..."

She made the whole world laugh. Who gets to do that? She meant well, and the painting she wrecked wasn't really that good. She did something sublimely ridiculous. She has fans. I'm a fan. She didn't just mess up the Jesus. She messed it up hilariously. Plus, Jesus forgives everything.

Palladian said...

I suspect Christ would forgive a woman for an innocent and well-meaning yet botched attempt to render service to Him, but I wouldn't be do sure of forgiveness for those who mock her for it.

Christ didn't forgive everyone, or everything, if you recall.

edutcher said...

Excellent point, sir.

Althouse is the seat of clear thinking this Sabbath.

dvlfish13 said...

I, too, feel for the woman. She tried to fix something she obviously admired, maybe something she'd loved for years and years and years. So she tries to fix it. She may have believed that, as an act of faith, God would provide the resources. Probably didn't even take a picture of the original first.

She makes small changes at first. But they don't look right. So, she tries to fix the fixes. And those don't look quite right. And so on and so forth.

Eventually she realizes that she's screwed it up completely. Horror. Mortification. She has to tell someone.

What makes it bearable to me (and her, too, I hope) is the thought of the Art guy walking into the church, thinking to himself "how bad could it be?" and he rounds the corner and sees ... if there is any God he broke out laughing like he'd never laughed before.

Like my old professor used to say, if you're going to fail, fail with authority.

Nichevo said...

1. There are a lot of mean nasty cruel people in the world. You know who you are.

2. That said, in the words of Danny Kaye, "This work was composed under a slight disadvantage...She had no talent!"

3. THAT said, she clearly did this out of love, and if a priest did in fact give her the thumbs-up, he's the one deserves your opprobrium.

Joe Schmoe said...

Now if only Chip Ahoy would crib together a Mackayla's Not Impressed shot with Cecelia's masterwork...

Rockport Conservative said...

I thought it looked as if it had been done by Picasso. I am not kidding that was my first impression of it.

Paddy O said...

I, too, feel for the woman. She tried to fix something she obviously admired, maybe something she'd loved for years and years and years. So she tries to fix it. She may have believed that, as an act of faith, God would provide the resources. Probably didn't even take a picture of the original first.

She makes small changes at first. But they don't look right. So, she tries to fix the fixes. And those don't look quite right. And so on and so forth.


And, we're back to the Genesis thread...

Well, indeed the narrative of the whole Bible.

dvlfish13 said...

Heh, I think you're on to something. Didn't the gnostics have Yahweh as "the demiurge," who attempted to recreate the realm of sophia and kept screwing it up?

Part of the appeal of this story is the painting itself (her version). Which is genuinely, er, arresting. But maybe part of it is that it seems like a metaphor for something.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ricpic said...

She's not bad on foreheads and noses but her mouths need work.

bagoh20 said...

It's quite possible that if superior beings came to visit, they would be confused about which are the better versions. We have a lifetime of training that makes us biased.

In some genres, it's a tough call. Those are the ones where I call the genius tags bullshit.

dvlfish13 said...

ricpic,

Don't forget the eyes. A sidelong glance. Leering? Accusatory? Can he see me through the screen???*

* "Last sentence stolen from Treacher and repurposed."

dvlfish13 said...

bahoh20,

So right. If someone had uttered the words "transgressive re-imagining" I wouldn't have given it a second glance.

Leon said...

Yea I liked hers, especially in the eyes and nose.

Lyle said...

It all looks like Mogdigliani.

Methadras said...

She created a meme and didn't even know it.

PianoLessons said...

Ann - I was going to send you this link and then - boom - you got it.

I am more than in agreement with you - who is to say what is good art and bad art.

Just look at this particular commentary about "The Scream"...

The only real requirement about true art - in my humble opinion (as a trained artist and art teacher before I switched careers - but I long to do more art of my own every day) - is that it be authentic. That it not belong to the machine or the Man or the corporation or the emperor of the time who is wearing no clothes.

True art comes from whoever you - the artist - envisions or imagines on your own without any real cultural or academic boundaries.

It's how it has always been if you have ever really studied Art History.

Nora said...

It looks like she herself was original only once, the rest is pretty much immitation of herself. So I can't see how looking at the same monkey face repeatedly makes it fan. It was fan at first couple of pictures, though.

Nora said...

I can see how she might have following among the younger generation of the "artists" those who were not even tought to draw. She is in need of her Saatchi.

Rusty said...

I think once she perfects her medium she'll be quite successful. Unshackled by the artistic conventions of centuries past.
I like how she managed to retain the renascence atmosphere of disdainful suffering while giving the image of our lord a 21st century innocence. I think the younger parishioners will appreciate her brash style.

Unknown said...

George Costanza: "Are you telling me you couldn't paint this? It's just a bunch of squiggly lines!"

Jerry Seinfeld: "You want me to paint you something? I'd love to paint you something..."

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