These are excerpts. About 75 percent of the entire article.
The Washington Post is reporting that, last fall, the White House asked the Guggenheim Museum to let it borrow a 1888 painting by Vincent van Gogh, Landscape with Snow. The requested loan was to be for the private living area of the President and First Lady, but the museum’s deputy director, Nancy Spector, declined, explaining that the painting is “prohibited from travel except for the rarest of occasions,” and that it was on its way to the Guggenheim in Bilbao. But then Spector made a suggestion: the White House could borrow America, Maurizio Catalan’s 18-karat-gold toilet, which had previously been on view in a bathroom at the museum. Very thoughtful, Ms. Spector.
Presidents typically borrow work from the Smithsonian, and sometimes other institutions, for display in the White House. Readers with long memories may recall the kerfuffle that erupted in the right-wing blogosphere way back in 2009 when President Barack Obama decided to display an Ed Ruscha that featured phrases like “MAYBE…NO” and “MAYBE…I’LL.” “If Barack Obama’s lack of authority and certitude weren’t costing so many lives, this would be comical,” commentator Michelle Malkin wrote at the time, in an apparent reference to the president’s policy in Afghanistan.
In the run-up to Trump’s inauguration, the St. Louis Art Museum was criticized by some for agreeing to loan the George Caleb Bingham painting The Verdict of the People (1854–55) to the festivities, given the President-Elect’s by-then-already-well-established “expressed values of hatred, misogyny, racism and xenophobia,” as activists put it. The museum went ahead with that loan.
I have to ask, does anyone even care what one artist thinks??? I mean really???????.......
Rams
I often ponder the question of art and asked for opinions here a few months back. Some “art” is dishonest, meaning that it has no artistic value. I suspect that to be the case with the golden toilet.
Some, calling themselves “artists”, are really “scam artists”. They produce insipid objects and foist them on gullible leftists who have more money than brains.
I think the images of the object are arresting. The photo images, and even more arresting, the brief YouTube video segments (from Page One here.)
I saw where a guy was theorizing that the human affinity for precious metals like gold has its origins in the surface reflectivity of water. Important for the earliest humans and their evolutionary ancestors to look across a distance and see a lake or a river. Or a creek or a pond. So a natural affinity evolved in the human mind, for the reflectivity of metals.
Not much harm in it, that I can see. I think there's a metallurgical process in its future--a furnace or an acid bath or some electrolytic method (I guess)--that will recover and purify the gold content, so it can be used for other purposes. Sooner or later.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-06-2018).]
I think the images of the object are arresting. The photo images, and even more arresting, the brief YouTube video segments (from Page One here.)
Says the guy who does “wine and art crawls” in San Francisco.
quote
Originally posted by williegoat:
Some, calling themselves “artists”, are really “scam artists”. They produce insipid objects and foist them on gullible leftists who have more money than brains.
I often ponder the question of art and asked for opinions here a few months back. Some “art” is dishonest, meaning that it has no artistic value. I suspect that to be the case with the golden toilet.
Some, calling themselves “artists”, are really “scam artists”. They produce insipid objects and foist them on gullible leftists who have more money than brains.
When you consider that the creator of the toilet is a European, (Italian), that titled the toilet "America", it becomes immediately obvious that it is just a sophomoric political jab.
Take away the title and the toilet is just a gold toilet. Not art. Not even craft. Probably just a common plumbing fixture in a Saudi palace.
The only thing that Ronald really finds "arresting" about this toilet is the supposed insult to President Trump.
There isn't even any proof that the White House originally made a request to the museum that started this nonsense.
The leftist curator who released her one-sided email to the media now refuses to speak about the matter, as does anyone else at the museum, and the White House has never commented on it at all.
The leftist curator that started all this has quite a publically documented Trump hating history that goes back to the day after the election.
Would a raging #Resist leftist like that stoop to a fake email in order to take a shot at a President she hates? Nah, surely not
Could a raging #Resist leftist employee of the museum possibly cause their 501(c)(3) tax status to be revoked because of her puerile political stunt? YES.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 02-06-2018).]
The only thing that Ronald really finds "arresting" about this toilet is the supposed insult to President Trump.
I'm not a tennis player and really don't know much about the game but I believe it ends with someone saying something along the lines of game, point match. You win. .
When the Los Alamos National Laboratory created a Web page for the atomic element Gold, it included an estimate that all the gold ever extracted from the planet by humans--if fabricated into a single, cube-shaped ingot--would measure out to 60-foot long by 60-foot wide by 60-foot deep.
Combine that with the volume enclosed by an Olympic-sized swimming pool--courtesy of the fine folks at Patagonia Alliance--and it is apparent that all of this gold, if poured out as molten metal, would fill up two Olympic-sized swimming pools and almost half-fill a third such swimming pool. Seemingly, not all that much.
In 3Q 2017, Nell Greenfieldboyce, a correspondent for National Public Radio, reported on what astrophysicists have interpreted as a collision between two neutron stars in a galaxy beyond our own. Their interpretation is drawn from measurements at ground-based gravitational wave detectors in the U.S. and Italy, together with a NASA orbiting telescope that measured a gamma ray burst at almost the same instant, and follow-up observations using ground-based optical telescopes.
The neutron stars had been locked in a gravitational embrace, orbiting each other for upwards of 11 billion years, before crashing into one another about 130 million years ago, and 130 million light years distant from earth. The cataclysm created a spreading cloud of radioactive debris that had already attained the size of our own solar system, just 24 hours after the instant when the two neutron stars fell into each other. One astrophysicist ventured that this debris cloud included about 200 Earth masses of GOLD atoms and 500 Earth masses of atomic platinum.
"Astronomers Strike Gravitational Gold In Colliding Neutron Stars" Nell Greenfieldboyce for National Public Radio; October 16, 2017. includes images and a video segment https://www.npr.org/section...liding-neutron-stars
Monex reported that gold closed today (February 6, 2018) at $1338 per ounce.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-06-2018).]
When the Los Alamos National Laboratory created a Web page for the atomic element Gold, it included an estimate that all the gold ever extracted from the planet by humans--if fabricated into a single, cube-shaped ingot--would measure out to 60-foot long by 60-foot wide by 60-foot deep.
Combine that with the volume enclosed by an Olympic-sized swimming pool--courtesy of the fine folks at Patagonia Alliance--and it is apparent that all of this gold, if poured out as molten metal, would fill up two Olympic-sized swimming pools and almost half-fill a third such swimming pool. Seemingly, not all that much.
In 3Q 2017, Nell Greenfieldboyce, a correspondent for National Public Radio, reported on what astrophysicists have interpreted as a collision between two neutron stars in a galaxy beyond our own. Their interpretation is drawn from measurements at ground-based gravitational wave detectors in the U.S. and Italy, together with a NASA orbiting telescope that measured a gamma ray burst at almost the same instant, and follow-up observations using ground-based optical telescopes.
The neutron stars had been locked in a gravitational embrace, orbiting each other for upwards of 11 billion years, before crashing into one another about 130 million years ago, and 130 million light years distant from earth. The cataclysm created a spreading cloud of radioactive debris that had already attained the size of our own solar system, just 24 hours after the instant when the two neutron stars fell into each other. One astrophysicist ventured that this debris cloud included about 200 Earth masses of GOLD atoms and 500 Earth masses of atomic platinum.
"Astronomers Strike Gravitational Gold In Colliding Neutron Stars" Nell Greenfieldboyce for National Public Radio; October 16, 2017. includes images and a video segment https://www.npr.org/section...liding-neutron-stars
Monex reported that gold closed today (February 6, 2018) at $1338 per ounce.
I assume this is similar to throwing fodder on the fire. Doesn't have squat to do with the heat value but, it does provide smoke.
When you consider that the creator of the toilet is a European, (Italian), that titled the toilet "America", it becomes immediately obvious that it is just a sophomoric political jab.
Take away the title and the toilet is just a gold toilet. Not art. Not even craft. Probably just a common plumbing fixture in a Saudi palace.
The only thing that Ronald really finds "arresting" about this toilet is the supposed insult to President Trump.
There isn't even any proof that the White House originally made a request to the museum that started this nonsense.
The leftist curator who released her one-sided email to the media now refuses to speak about the matter, as does anyone else at the museum, and the White House has never commented on it at all.
The leftist curator that started all this has quite a publically documented Trump hating history that goes back to the day after the election.
Would a raging #Resist leftist like that stoop to a fake email in order to take a shot at a President she hates? Nah, surely not
Could a raging #Resist leftist employee of the museum possibly cause their 501(c)(3) tax status to be revoked because of her puerile political stunt? YES.
I saw the toilet and instantly thought " why go through the trouble of making a common public subway toilet look like gold?". This entire subject reeks with fake story.
The city of Phoenix had the freeway completed as far north as Glendale Ave. in 1991. During much of the road's early days in the 1990s, several decorative pots were mounted on top of the noise mitigation walls, which were a source of controversy at the time of their installation due to cost and aesthetics. One resident installed a gold toilet in protest. They were all taken down, however, during the ADOT reconstruction project between McDowell Rd. and Shea Boulevard in 2000.
I would call this the most definitive report. It's referenced by a number of the other reports that I have seen.
"The White House asked to borrow a van Gogh. The Guggenheim offered a gold toilet instead." Paul Schwartzman, for the D.C. Politics section of the Washington Post; January 25, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost....m_term=. 32d40400baa1
I think of the Paul Schwartzman in WaPo report as the GOLD standard in this field.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-07-2018).]
The city of Phoenix had the freeway completed as far north as Glendale Ave. in 1991. During much of the road's early days in the 1990s, several decorative pots were mounted on top of the noise mitigation walls, which were a source of controversy at the time of their installation due to cost and aesthetics. One resident installed a gold toilet in protest. They were all taken down, however, during the ADOT reconstruction project between McDowell Rd. and Shea Boulevard in 2000.
“It just so happens that almost every talk show host is liberal and that’s because it requires a level of intelligence,” Kimmel said during a live event for progressive podcast show Pod Save America.
Well, assuming this is as some are projecting, intended as an insult to the Trumps, I wonder if this will effect the funding the Guggenheim receives from "we the taxpayers"? Yeah, I know it is a small percentage of their annual budget but, if it truly was intended as and taken as the indicated insult, I could see that funding reduced by if not eliminated.
I donate a small percentage of my income to certain charities but let them insult me publically and I am pretty sure I would seriously reconsider how that would move forward.
Edited: There are always repercussions or results to the decisions we make, this should be no different. Ya rolls the dice and get what you get.
Rams
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 02-09-2018).]
Originally posted by olejoedad: Sorry, not paying a dollar to read your link.
Does that mean that olejoe' (if you are looking in here) tried to use the link that I provided, to that content in the Washington Post online, and encountered a paywall that wanted to charge him a dollar for access to that content?
What I am used to seeing with these high profile newspapers online (Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune...) is that they allow non-subscribers to look at one or maybe a few pages of content during a given month, without any charge. Freebies. When you have used up your freebies, then you would have to subscribe and pay the subscription fee, in order to access more online content.
I wonder if olejoedad has used up his freebies with the Washington Post online? Or is there something encoded at the end of that link that signals the server for the Washington Post online, that it's actually "me" that wants the access?
I think I am off on some side-track here. Probably just confusing myself.
Maybe the olejoe' did not try to use my link, because he did not want to use up one of his valuable WaPo freebies for that particular content(?) He already knew the drill, as it's often said. The paywall routine.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-09-2018).]
OK-dokey. I meant no harm. It was not intended as any kind of diss, which I guess originated as rapper talk or street linguo, or something like that.
"olejoedad" it is.
I feel like I just dodged a bullet. I thought maybe I was about to be informed that the toilet wasn't cast through and through from 18-karat gold, via the Lost Wax process. Just stainless steel or aluminum that had been gold-plated. A "spendy" restroom appliance, indeed, but one that would have fallen well short (I would think) of this Million Dollar Crapper of legend. This new wonder of the modern world. This slam dunk candidate for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This worthy competitor in the Guinness World Records category of most extravagant restroom appliance installed in a public space. This veritable shrine of sanitary engineering.
That'd be a bummer.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-09-2018).]
A solid 18-karat-gold toilet will be installed at Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough, as part of an exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan -- his first solo show in Britain in 20 years.
CNN report includes a photograph.
It's the same working (fully plumbed) work of art that was in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 05-12-2019).]
I have been civil to you and others on this Forum, I expect no less than the same from you.
Yet strangely, you remain eerily silent every single time I express the very same concept while under unprovoked attack from a few members here. It could have helped the situation by letting others know that some here actually believe in & support basic civility, too.
“I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." ~ John Wayne
Looks like some new discussion going on here, at the end of what had been a long dormant topic. Woo-hoo !
CLICK FOR FULL SIZE
Fully plumbed and ready to use.
quote
A golden throne in an English stately home might not sound that surprising -- but this is a throne with a difference.
A solid 18-karat-gold toilet will be installed at Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough, as part of an exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan -- his first solo show in Britain in 20 years.
"I am constantly inspired by the past and how nothing has really changed, so to show my work at Blenheim Palace -- a place full of history and humanity -- is significant to me," said the artist in a press release.
The exhibition, hosted by the Blenheim Art Foundation, will feature new works by the artist, but the main attraction is sure to be "America" -- the fully functioning gold toilet that will be plumbed into a room adjacent to the one in which Winston Churchill was born.
The work could be seen as a comment on the social, political and economic disparities in the United States, a press release announcing the exhibition reads.
That toilet is cast of solid 18-karat gold. But what about pure gold? A toilet made of 24-karat gold? How about two such commodes? That would be even more precious, in terms of the monetary valuation. To wit.
"A 24-karat gold toilet shrine to Vladimir Lenin is a dream come true for a Hong Kong gold shop owner" South China Morning Post; March 25, 2002. https://www.scmp.com/article/375029/going-gold
Text and photographs.
Winger Lam Sai-wing described himself as a "capitalist with socialist principles." "This toilet is for the public, I wouldn't have one at home."
quote
When Winger Lam Sai-wing decided to build a shrine to his boyhood hero, Russian revolutionary Lenin, he spent more than $38 million on a fitting tribute - a solid gold toilet. The 24-carat commode, the world's most expensive, occupies pride of place inside his 3D-Gold jewellery store in an otherwise humdrum Hunghom street.
'It has been my dream to build this since I was 16 years old. Now it has come true,' says Lam, who literally struck gold after moving from Guangdong to Hong Kong when he was 21 to start up his own business. Now 46, Lam points to a passage Lenin wrote in 1921 saying that after the victory of socialism, gold should be used to make washrooms.
The toilet is registered by The Guinness Book Of Records as the most expensive in the world, but as The Beatles almost sang, 'money can't buy you taste'. The washroom is more kitsch than Liberace's boudoir, more ostentatious than Brenda and Kai-bong Chau's gilt-edged mansion and as tacky as a Peak Tower souvenir.
The doors are engraved with pharaohs, Greek gods, harp-playing angels, cherubs and a cat and dog poking their noses out of a kennel. Almost everything is gold: the two toilets, the wash basin, waste bin . . . even the loo brush. The floor is made of expensive tree fossils and the ceiling studded with 6,000 semi-precious gems of many colours. More than 100 experts helped construct the washroom.
Outside the room's imposing doors, the complete works of Lenin (translated into Chinese) are lined up along a bookshelf. One lies open on a stand, with Lenin's words underlined. Lenin's ideals appear to be at odds with the fabulously wealthy Lam who presides over a jewellery empire in the capitalist spot on communist China's bottom.
MORE ONLINE at the South China Morning Post.
I didn't see that one coming.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 05-14-2019).]
Yet strangely, you remain eerily silent every single time I express the very same concept while under unprovoked attack from a few members here. It could have helped the situation by letting others know that some here actually believe in & support basic civility, too.
“I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." ~ John Wayne
I defend myself when disrespected, and also those that are helpless.
It's hard to see what else could be down here in the depths that hasn't already been "plumbed." In terms of Gold Commode.
How about some Off Off-Topic entertainment? Video segment is 5 minutes and 44 seconds. Wouldn't that be an improvement over this latest peer-to-peer bickering about civility? Wouldn't it provide a welcome change of pace?
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 05-14-2019).]
Edit: Every post that you have made in the recent past has been to biatch about me. Every post Don. Not an exaggeration. "Obsessed much"? Get off of my nutz. Or don't? You are the one making choices for yourself, not I.
Sending this next paragraph to Boonie in PM. ~ I just did a search of my "Recent Posts" side bar. Not one of them began with me interrupting your life. You have jumped into nearly half of my recent threads to come after me. I have not once done such to you, but here we are? If so, feel free to post them. If I am in the wrong, post it up here in defense of yourself. You will not, nor will you even answer questions asked by MANY forum members.
Olejoedad? Really?
I am not the cause of your unhappiness. MTFU.
[This message has been edited by Tony Kania (edited 05-14-2019).]
. 
Get off of my nutz. Or don't? You are the one making choices for yourself, not I. 
