Matthew Barney - The Order From Cremaster

[63echo]

WTF?!!

[breaktheton]

isn't this a depiction of the levels of free masonry? thats what i have been told.

[ClaireRyt]

I love the theme that plays while the apprentice is climbing.

[teasecharliee]

每次看都感到一陣煩躁.................0益0­

[nostradamusguy]

I can't believe all this happened in the Guggenheim. Frank Lloyd Wright would be upset.

[facecheek]

that was so, so scary...what hell are you trying to do matt, make me scared of women? what he do, anyway, copy down what he saw in his dreams or something? omg except im legit fan of the music, its so like expressive, makes me scared, happy...

[videogamenostalgia]

Is this real? Or is this a parody of pretentious 'arty' films which are really just random shit thrown at you where people try to justify it by claiming that the art itself is in trying to work out if it is art?

[RingshadowCat]

You know I know art is all about perspective but I sat down and read a rundown of the entire cycle once and all I took away from it is this guy is OBSESSED with the descent of the testicles.

That's.. really all I can say.

[alemmingsdeath]

@RingshadowCat It's true. Haha! Well whatever. It looks cool.

[neoplastik]

A civilization in full decadence...

[ilcomicodibaviere]

superb....



[JohnWhitesideParsons]

Full Cremaster Cycle in my playlists

[AhcriSlate]

Almost as brilliant as Barney the dinosaur

[UCCorpChannel]

todo es genial hasta el bajo!

[JohnWhitesideParsons]

Full Cycle in my playlist.

[sealuva343]

i think is a reinactment of a bad acid trip this guy had

[SuperMagicMarkers]

this is good ART. Matthew Barney forever.

[phoenixicarus]

Who is the sculptor who is slopping molten vaseline at the top of the guggenheim spiral? I just can't remember this instant . . .

[mikesxdestroy]

@phoenixicarus Richard Serra

[2mnyshp]

male or female. that's the question.

[EhepaarZuba]

Guess you have to see the complete film to understand everything. It's quite existing, but you gotta take some time for it. This video just shows parts of "Cremaster Cycle 3". [the film is about mothercomplex etc.]

[LeeMIlby]

Clearly he's doing something worth doing, if an artist such as Richard Serra is part of it :)

People need to stop being so damned critical.

[AAlgieri89]

the wall was released over 30 years ago, art and storytelling has evolved since than. You should consider looking at this slowly, look at each individual scene and think about what it means to you. Also the audience becomes important, barney is appealing towards a more artistically knowledgeable audience so it may be important to think about creation and visual imagery.

[cscioli]

I dont understand this. It makes even less sense than Pink Floyd's "The Wall" the movie based on the album of the same name, and that was crazy.

[kpstyle]

okay idk what this video is about. no clue.

[laurahughes133]

What is the representation of the pink anyway? What do the levels represent? And the mashing?

[AAlgieri89]

Some people seem to view the cremaster series almost as a waste of video in some cases. They say “Just because it's weird doesn't mean it's art..” quickly dismissing present symbolism and message.

They take his appearance in the video as something to mock and refuse to open their minds and ask why first. Could Barney be dressed like this for a reason? Does he look "lost, [and] gay" for a reason. Not all art is surface deep, and some including Barney's work require some brain power.

[ElwinMDK]

Hey guys I now put this in my favorite video-list JUST BECAUSE the viewers comments are so funny and absolutely right and I definitely want to savor those comments again and again.

Actually I should not be surprised to find this as a ton of weird things happen before 2012.

[Houdini555]

sucks rip off of the el topo holy mountain- this guy should be banned from making this forever

[ElwinMDK]

I have to admit art is a really profound and broad term that even gives somebody enough reasons to take advantage of and profane it and meanwhile make viewers fools and completely confused.

I wonder whose faces a slap is in, in terms of the existence of such so called art?

[ac1dman]

Just because it's weird doesn't mean it's art..

[ShinyStarSeed]

Matthew Barney...I love you! :\

[sergioh91]

What do you guys know about sculpture to say he's not an artist? Have you guys ever heard about Richard Serra? Do you guys know what minimalism said about sculpture and what Barney is questioning after that using cinematography? [...] Mathew Barney's works are so dense that you need to study hard to understand, if you're an outsider of the art world. You can see all art history on his works, that's why he's so great.

[belneddy]

selfservingism

[persianprincessacu]

What a super over-indulged, decadent fool.

Mattew Barney is the lost, gay,(but in the closet, why else marry a pixie), bastard son of Norman Finkelstein, (has anyone else noticed the creepy similarity?) Of course, in this case, the father is far more interesting than the son.

[Sloopydrew]

Wow. That sucked.

[Garvain66]

visually it is quite interesting but it is a wee bit pretentious and vacuous so I have a mixed response....enjoy the technique more than the meaning

The greatest art in all media communicates and either provokes thought or feeling.

Traditional art forms are NOT dead, despite vested interests assertions to the contrary, but I also see the validity in exploring new media provided it is done so with thought,creativity and skill Artist

[darkrealm666]

visually grand.

[Sactreats]

You know, there are stairs in the Guggenheim, Matt.

[jackal59]

This is so expertly and expensively produced that it seems a shame to point out that it's so utterly shallow.

[1BattleAngel]

@gusb232 a professor? your not a real artist are you...art is expression, to judge is just proving your lack of creativity and stupidity. ...

[Krondelo]

I don't care what anyone says, this makes no sense. I'm pretty open minded too.

[1BattleAngel]

@Krondelo open minded?? like NO minded ..view all of cremaster cycles its just a tiny bit your makin an opinion off of....

[Krondelo]

@1BattleAngel So because this doesn't make sense to me I'm no minded?? And its close-minded. Sounds like your the one without a head.

[1BattleAngel]

@Krondelo *lol* ok..but its based on celtic mythos. the evolution of spirit and knowledge. he travels from one level to another facing one challenge after another..some spiritual some based on intellect.This is not the only cycle..BUT you must think outside the box. your making an opinion purely on visual factors. your not seeing it for anything more then pictures on a screen. there is reason behind everything. Its a metaphoric journey of ones soul...but if ya dont get it. Well you dont get it.

[Krondelo]

@1BattleAngel Well thats what you should've said in the first place. I had a feeling it was based on something but from what I read in the description I thought it was just supposed to be art based on images. It still makes no sense to me but then again I know nothing about Celtic Mythos so I guess my opinion is invalid.

[wobjob]

As a production designer Barney is stunning. As a filmmaker/artist he is turgid.

[PoisionedSweets]

@gusb232

there are books written about this. :) I'm sure you can find one in a big library (You'll certaily find books in University library's or art school library's)

[stiffy5100]

can somebody please make some sense out of this for me? my mind is blown as to what just happened

[IrishLincoln]

Gavel Square Level Plumb...some of the working tools

[sunvana]

James Joyce

Gertie MacDowell

[suotamosa]

where was this shot?

[lloplop]

The Guggenheim in NYC.

[amokoner1]

wtf

[astrixx]

lol!

[theemarsterofarses]

Obvious masonic references.

[IrishLincoln]

very very obvious

[stiffy5100]

please explain what of this is obvious

[IrishLincoln]

Well, I guess I understand Barney. I think he is brilliant.

You see, if you have studied spirituality, the Kabbalistic and geometric understanding of God, allegorical and symbolic spiritualism, and throw artisitic expression in there then you get this, The Cremaster Cycle. This is an artisitic expression of the transition of the human soul through it's journey through life, understanding sacred geometry, and finding truth and balance.

[ac1dman]

@IrishLincoln Drugs you take, I want them.

[MPdinsdale1978]

@IrishLincoln You may also want to reference Freemasonry, as he took more from that for this series than the Kabbalic teachings.

[IrishLincoln]

@MPdinsdale1978 Yes, it is inspired by Freemasonry (I am a Freemason). It's closely connected to Kabbal, Tree of Life, etc. It' all very fascinating and interesting.

[ForestsBurned]

This is fucking tasteless.

[t7g6s8]

kind of like you

[IrishLincoln]

Thi is about a spiritual transcendence into the realms of full understanding an enlightenment. The spirit travels through the reflection of the moral and immoral, darkness and light, peace and chaos, masculine an feminine. The spirit finally conquers the struggle of life and moves oninto the realm of truth.

[noklarok]

i'm sure you worked that out from the film

[IrishLincoln]

Weel, that's what I got out of it, but your interpretation is yours.

[CcircleOopen]

Does it make it good that the artist had a point?

[IrishLincoln]

@CcircleOopen

what?

[cremaster0]

Awesome.

[RingshadowCat]

Wonderfully presented? Yes. Doesn't change the fact that it's five movies that took about ten years to make that are obsessed with the descent of the testes.

Seriously. What the hell.

[porfavormeudeus]

Adolescent and gay

[ioweioo]

agnostic front

[wombleguts]

art is like politics.

there is an explanation and excuse for everything if you manipulate language well enough. everything has a concept. even the ludicrous and profound because it can always be brought back down into reality with fancy wordplay. thus giving it something resembling 'reason'.

when in actuality, all i seem to see is a man who has more chances than others, too masturbate into peoples eyes and ears.

[janetyacht]

too full of direction. Doesn't work at all.

[madsketcher]

I'm new to his work (Downloading the Cremaster series right now and I have DR 9 ready to be watched). A little of this was engaging, but mostly, it comes off as left-brained art disguised as right-brained art.  I find it odd that this is so exclusively "protected" for wealthy people. It's not that interesting, but I think it has it's merits.

[IrishLincoln]

Nothing like a 55 Gallon drum of industrial grade Vaseline

[rubenstein418]

he's not a genius. I really get annoyed when people whip out the genius card because they can't completely comprehend the work. genius is a word that is thrown around way to much these days. last major visual artistic genius I can think of was picasso. odd nerdrum is probably a genius as well, but he's sort of said fuck you to art world because of shit like this.

[miim333]

you are a douche, picasso works in oils and is a cubism painter. Barney is a modernist film producer. No comparison possible. This is good stuff.

[rubenstein418]

barney started off working in drawing primarily. nothing special.

[mattruch]

His concepts are special. And if you don't get the concept, you don't get it.

[holzfallen]

I wouldn't claim to 'completely' comprehend the work of any serious artist. There will always be personal, private complexities that even the artists themselves don't fully understand. Drawing Restraint 9 was rather laughable; I don't think a mean-spirited enemy could take the piss out of Barney any better -- but Cremaster 3 has a lot of energy. I can see why Barney drives people nuts but I don't think Nerdrum has namechecked him as 'what's wrong with art' -- that would be a bit silly.

[0lmstead007]

love it :)

[oimabel]

its so good

[blickblocks]

Why do Murphy's Law and Agnostic Front keep building up but never actually starting to play a song? Just on an aesthetic level I find this really intriguing.

[maxhodges]

perhaps because it's about 'potentials' like the potential things you can make out of the goo, or the potential of an embryo to develop into a female or male

[DEDALUS72cn]

non l'ho capito...che era?

[rectal7]

matthew barney is a genius. i love the way he is really a girl when he lowers the testes. it's testacular.

[GalacticZooDossier]

If anyone knows about anything else as interesting as this on YouTube let me know. I also really like "Perpetics by Zeitguised."

[Ninael]

I was shown The Order in my art appreciation class. The rest of the students didn't get it, but I found it the most fantastic thing I've ever seen.

[rectal7]

Perhaps you should take a few more classes

[WilmoTheBear]

This is the kind of "art" that makes me hate art

[gusb232]

Im interested to know where you are coming from with that statement.

Is it that you believe that the only good art is in the form of a painting, sculpture... the classics ; So it is the Medium that displeases you?

Or Maybe you just see Barney as a vacuous pop art hiding under a thin veil of macabre distraction-ism.

Or maybe you Part of what you take away from Barney Is that this piece Is a critique on contemporary art itself As the struggles that destroy it Also seem to create it!

[WilmoTheBear]

it was my opinion, i like other things, there, i said it so that Anyone can understand it. Also english isn't my first language so im not going to waste my time trying to find out what you're trying to say.

[blickblocks]

I believe gusb232 is only trying to begin dialogue with you.

[WilmoTheBear]

And im trying to prevent that from happening, since i dont have anything constructive to say

[blade004]

@gusb232 You can word this any way you like but lets just see this for what it really is and that is that Matthew Barney is not an artist, not a man of intellect but simply has found a niche within an audience that deems themselves beyond understanding of his dysfunctional mind in a bid to create a sense of superiority within their own mind without using any sense of logic.

ANY man or woman could make what he makes, all you need to do is throw all sense out the window and just do anything

[fleckx]

@WilmoTheBear This is the kind of art that makes me go WHUT?!

[gusb232]

@fleckx Right this is part of the reason I posted this. It makes you say Wait, Is this really art?if so or not What is art?

[tkolsty89]

@gusb232 Yep. What is art to one person may on the surface appear to be a jumbled mess to another. I always kind of saw art as being about pushing the boundaries of relatability; that's why the "best" art isn't safe. Barney is trying to make the audience rack their brains to draw something from his art that they can relate to. He definitely doesn't make it easy, but that's what makes it special. Once you find it though, voila! Good art.

[1BattleAngel]

@fleckx cause you never watched all cremaster cycles.. This just a tiny bit and its based on a celtic story...just more creative and modern...yes a bit bizaare but use the stuff between your ears called a BRAIN and try to think outside yer little box....

[fleckx]

@1BattleAngel Wow, you are the stupid fucking bitch who read an insult into my post and went on to write the biggest response to my tiny little post. Before you criticize me for not having a brain big enough to comprehend how awesome this is, perhaps you should look at yourself and see if you have a brain big enough to comprehend that not everyone is gonna like the same crap you like. Have fun with that one. You need to do more drugs to get to my level.

[doczanja]

@fleckx exactly what its supposed to do at first. :)

[l4vey]

@WilmoTheBear well indeed..i was a art student a few years back, so its not that i dont like art, but some shit is just too fucking weird ..seems like you just have to dress funny drop lots of stuff around and record it on video to make art :P ..and i do get what its about, but still dont like it ..

[greensoles1]

@WilmoTheBear Make a research on his work and his conception of the body and maybe, THEN, you will understand his art.

[deathstardisko]

@greensoles1 I don't think viewing art should have to be about what research you have done beforehand.

[gsh73la]

@WilmoTheBear "Wreckless Media Radio: Greg's show"

It's 10 000 times better, than that fucking crap

[WilmoTheBear]

@gsh73la thanks for advertising my video?

[Monsduh]

It shocked me... how is it possible for the girl to walk that way with those "fake legs"? those weren't her legs, right?... could anyone please explain that to me?...

[pfefferminze11]

The actress is an amputee (and an athlete) - the crystal and leopard sets of legs are prostheses... if you look into the making of the movies, or read the book, it goes into a lot of detail about the problems they ran into with making the legs walkable for her...

[Monsduh]

Thank u!

I was shock, because i kind of realized those were like prostheses... but is just that she walkes so naturally...

There's a book? I'm gonna have to find it, and i clearly have to watch the whole video...

[redteamla]

Her name is Aimee Mullins

[crazymattchu]

Awesome, Its sick and twisted and thats why I love it !!! All the thanks goes to my girlfriend who opened my eyes to Matthew barney. Thanks baby

[johnfudrow]

There is way too much going on here to explain in 500 characters. My advice would be to find an artist or professor and let them explain for a few weeks. :)

[emergancyponcho]

by limiting himself as a commodity peak value is maintained. He says; "Art needs to be defended. It's fragile. If a work is shown too many times, something gets stolen from it. And it is the same with an artist. So i try to protect myself and my work."

[madsketcher]

As an artist, I find that a really bizarre thing to say. Probably because it's BS. Then again, I'd probably say it too, if I was selling limited releases of my movies at prices only rich people could afford. Does Bjork need to "protect" her work? No. It's available to anyone. Same thing with David Lynch, who is brilliant. I'm interested in Barney's aesthetic, but not because it's always genuine or good to me. It's just... I can't put my finger on it, but at times it feels so forced.

[TheSanityInspector]

"Mannered" may be the word you're looking for.

[Tinkerman666]

watching matthew barneys works is like tasting new, unknown spices, no matter if u like em or not.

[BabyWetsAllNight]

C3 is my favorite by far. It's so musical and insane. Matthew Barney himself can be rediculous at times though. You can't even see these films, they are out of theaters, obviously not on DVD which is understandable, but what the hell? It's not art if you have no way of viewing it.

[nukleopatra88]

the costumes are lovely, but the film lacks direction, at least that is what appears at first glance.

[terriblexlie]

I watched this earlier today for my art class and it was just beyond weird, ahah. Kind of understood it at the end when my professor helped explain what went on... But this was weird, ahah.

[anelymper]

There were some things i dind't understand,but it was so great!Barney is a genius!

[shoup1116]

we just watched this in my art class and i think it disturbed me for the rest of my life, its so fricken weird.

[SlipknotMetal87]

Really Really strange. there is something strange in this video