Foshay Tower print at Aesthetic Apparatus
It took me a while to decide if I was appalled or amused.
Aesthetic Apparatus has for sale a print of the Foshay Tower. Which is unremarkable in and of itself. Except that this print includes a tiny cartoon soul jumping off the top of it.
The caption reads:
Happy Holidays! A perfect anytime gift but since it’s, you know, the holiday season and so many people are less than festive…what says I love you more than an art print of a person jumping off of the ol’ Foshay tower in lovely downtown Minneapolis? HUH? If the image doesn’t cheer your love ones up then the shiny, metallic blue + silver gradient on this print surely will! Edition of 28! Gradient of actual print will vary slightly.
I personally couldn’t buy it. It’s a little too crass. The first thing I thought of was 9/11 and people jumping out of the World Trade Center and this is hardly in line with any of the jumper-related artwork that came out of that. (My Google-fu is failing me, but I’m thinking specifically of a drawing of stick-figure-ish people falling through the air that someone drew and put up in the window of a nearby building shortly after it all happened.) This may not have been the artist’s intent. It’s not like that that’s the only time anyone ever jumped out of a building. But that’s what immediately comes to my mind.
At the same time, I could see how someone with a very dark sense of humor would be amused by it. Deep down inside, I’m a little amused by it. If I saw it on the wall in someone’s house, I’d probably be startled, and then I’d chuckle a little.
I wouldn’t expect to see it in any corporate office lobby any time soon.
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Yeah, I’m not sure I’d buy it either, a little too dark for me. Though I really like the image of the Foshay.
I think I’d actually like it better if the person was falling up, you know, like they’re being raptured.
Thanks for putting the positive spin on it, Chuck.
MNspeakers discuss. Those folks are funny.