The sand drawings of Kseniya Simonova ... it will leave you speechless.

Watching that clip was very moving experience. I have never seen anything like it before. I'm a pretty harsh critic when it comes to art and entertainment but either way, it works for me. My kitsch detector did not go off at all - I thought it was quite genuine.
I think any one who calls it crap is probably jealous.
 
I don't give a rat's butt if it is art or not but I did enjoy watching it. Thanks for the link.

Bob
 
Well ... it beats arguing about the frame spacing of Kievs I guess! :p

I receieved the link to the clip in an email from a friend ... it came with this text:

This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000.

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.

It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.

She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.

This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.

In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
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She obviously touched on some very sensitive emotional areas for the average Ukrainian and if that's kitsch ... so be it. Bring it on! :)
 
Captivating on many levels. I live in Germany and just took visiting family to see Dachau (their teenager wanted to see a concentration camp). Thanks for sharing.
 
Does anybody else find it ironic that we're picking apart this woman work as not being art at the same time that so many people don't even consider photography an art form? Perhaps we need to be a little more introspective.

I consider certain forms of entertainment "art", i.e. dance, ballet, etc. and would suggest that this is no less an artistic expression. It works for me.
 
bmasonoh said:
Does anybody else find it ironic that we're picking apart this woman work as not being art at the same time that so many people don't even consider photography an art form? Perhaps we need to be a little more introspective.

I consider certain forms of entertainment "art", i.e. dance, ballet, etc. and would suggest that this is no less an artistic expression. It works for me.
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I don't even know why the issue of "is this art?" even came up. Some people said they think it's amazing and some people (me included) said they think it's bad. Then Keith made the (valid) point that it may not be great art but it's good entertainment. That's not to say that entertainment cannot be art but something can be bad as a piece art but good when judged under different criteria. For example, some might consider Jeff Koons' "Made in Heaven" good art but bad pornography. Some might think it's the other way around.
 
What was really funny was the string arrangement of metallica's Nothing else matters.

Loved watching , entertaining it was.
 
skibeerr said:
What was really funny was the string arrangement of metallica's Nothing else matters.

Loved watching , entertaining it was.
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I watched it with the sound off. I wonder how that affected my perception? Maybe the music is why some people thought it kitschy?
 
skibeerr said:
What was really funny was the string arrangement of metallica's Nothing else matters.

Loved watching , entertaining it was.
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What's so funny about that?

Obviously you haven't had a lot to do with FSU cameras! :D
 
Thanks, Keith.

I assume it's well practiced, but the speed at which she creates the images is stunning, at least to me.

And, clearly very evocative for her audience, as it must be for anyone familiar with Ukraine's experience in WW2.
 
That is a wonderful performance.
That young lady has talent to touch her audience by translating the running movie in her head into the sand with her hands.

If that's not art, what good art is for, then?
 
metallica's Nothing else matters.
now that is crap! worse band in the world:D

always thought Rolf (can’ya tell what it is yet) Harris was underrated …

Rolf is/was[ can`ya tell what it is yet] AUSTRALIAN:eek:

Thanx Keith, for posting this, i have seen not this one but another some years ago, but gee, the replies here are just as entertaining as the clip - no wait it was art?
 
pakeha said:
metallica's Nothing else matters.
now that is crap! worse band in the world:D

always thought Rolf (can’ya tell what it is yet) Harris was underrated …

Rolf is/was[ can`ya tell what it is yet] AUSTRALIAN:eek:

Thanx Keith, for posting this, i have seen not this one but another some years ago, but gee, the replies here are just as entertaining as the clip - no wait it was art?
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Sir Les Patterson, the Australian cultural attaché here in the UK always spoke very highly of him however ..
 
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