A LOT OF CONTROVERSY ABOUT AN UGLY PAINTING
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 5:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
So some people are all up in arms about the above painting by the artist Tom Sanford, The Assassination of Dimebag Darrell, which will be going on sale at an auction later this month (read all about it here and here). I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, but I do want to make two quick points:
- Metal fans really don’t get have the right to be offended by artistic portrayals of horribly violent acts, even if they’re based on a real incident. If you’ve ever enjoyed Slayer’s “Angel of Death,” you should understand my meaning.
- It’s just a painting, and, really, the most offensive thing about it is how ugly it is.
Weigh in with your thoughts below.
-AR
That’s pretty fucking metal.
The guy weighs in some very good and reasonable points. Just because the guy made this painting doesn’t mean he thinks it was a good event. Just because Slayer write songs about mass murderers doesn’t mean they support them.
Of all people, I think metal fans should understand this
No further comments are needed after this one. Therefore I will stop reading now.
I’d buy a painting of Dime’s assassination, if the artist didn’t suck.
What’s Eddie doing under the stage?
Plus the painting looks like a MAD Magazine fold-in.
I think I see Beavis too.
And Lenny Kravitz
And Geddy Lee
haha that is the first thing I noticed! did Rush open for them?
And Daniel Stern.
And Erik Rutan.
Dimebag was more than just a public figure, he had a family that loved him, and I would guess this would be really hurtful to them, and no one has the right to tell them not to feel that way. Writing songs about raping women with disembodied limbs is too far out there to be offensive to anyone directly. This targets people directly about the death of their idol, their friend, son, or brother.
I’m not even a big fan of Pantera and this is offensive.
Axl’s siting songs about the Holocaust for Christ’s sakes. Of the song “Bullet” by the Misfits is another example. Metal acts sing about real life murders and horrors ALL the time. It’s documented an event in the life of a public figure. If his family or close friends are offended, that’s fine. Totally understand. If you’re a fan and you’re offended, you need thicker skin or to grow up.
Im not tryin to argue man, but thats TOO easy to say. Like Oceano said he was someones brother, and a hero to countless. Youre right theres songs about true evnts that happened (Angel Of Death..etc), but sometimes it just hits close to home. If it was March 82′ and id just heard Randy Rhodes died in a plane crash id be a wreck. or Aug 90 and SRV died in the helicopter? Dude i get choked up NOW and i wasnt even old enough to be around for his influence.
Wow, I really don’t know what to say. I can’t even imagine being that worked up over a public figure that I don’t actually know. It’s completely out of my realm of comprehension.
You really get choked up over SRV dying? Dude, pop a Midol, stick a tampon in your vagina, and remember that celebrities don’t pay your fucking bills.
It’s ok to cover the subject. I would welcome a painting about this topic. But this painting is fucking atrocious. It’s not even dramatic, it’s stupid. It’s pulled off poorly and with very little artistic talent. That’s what makes it offensive. The way the killer has his finger pulled up like some snarky rebellious teen, and the bright cartoony colors. A good rule of thumb is not to make MAD magazine esque cartoons about real murders…ever. This has no other point then being shocking. I’m not shocked or offended at the painting, but I am offended that someone would care so little about other people that they would go out and get attention off the death of another person, possibly hurting someone.
Dude we know the guy wasn’t flipping people off when he committed the murder? The dude’s style is awful, but it’s apparently his style so why wouldn’t it look like this?
“Did we know” not dude.
No but I’m pretty sure Eddie wasn’t hiding under the stage. I was there, btw, and did not see Eddie. Actually I didn’t see the shooting either since I was smoking. And, on a side note, if Ohio didn’t have an indoor smoking ban (Columbus had it at that point, now it is statewide) there wouldn’t have been a murder as that door would have been closed and locked.
iirc, Trivium did a song about the gay guy who was beaten and left to die strung up like a scarecrow. But it was more in the vein of anti-hate.
How is writing songs about raping women ‘too far out there’ for anyone to take seriously. LOTS of women get raped..everyday. I bet at least 10 women are getting raped right now as I type this, and 4 of them are enjoying it.
Did your parents have any children that lived ?
The ultimate irony of this is that the guy who shot Diamond ‘lipstick’ Darrell was the perfect example of a Pantera fan, the very same that I rail about anytime Pantera is mentioned.
“Pantera was the best band EVER, and you are the best guitar player EVER…but you caused Pantera to break up !!! BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG !!!!
this guy was the ULTIMATE Pantera fan.
he didnt shoot dimebag because he “caused pantera to break up”
do some research, know what your talking about, not just what the fucking news told you. and your the one generalizing pantera fans all into one catagory when its fairly obvious that your intellect is somewhat lacking
Too early man. Too early.
5 years almost
That means we have 20 years until it isn’t too soon.
Anger, sadness and general grief aside, i understand that Art itself is not supposed to be “safe”, or afraid to generaly shock/make people think..whatever. And Axl is right, if you’re generally a fan of Metal in its multi-faceted splendor, you should’nt be offended by this.
However.
I try really hard to get over what happened to Dime. Its been 5 years. I celebrate his memory whenever i can. If i hear a Pantera tune come on, i crank that shit loud and smile. Im not so much “offended” as it just in particularly bums me out. The Painting itself is terrible, im not a Painter by any means but this is shite. If paintings are gonna be made of/for Dime- they should inspire you, or bring a smile to your face, it shouldnt be an ugly reminder of what happened
Granted the world isnt sunshine and rainbows, ive been to the sand i know that. but when i think of Dime in my head i wanna think about him jammin in the sky. Not about this weak ass representation of an “artist” (and i use that term fuckin weakly) interpretation of what happened that night.
You want to paint a portrait? Paint a portrait of Officer James Niggemeyer. Police Officer. Hero.
We Miss you Darrell.
the only bad press is no press.
agreed.
Dennis Rodman once said that the only bad press was an obituary. Of course, in the metal world, I’m sure an obituary can be varying degrees of metal.
Is this based on photo or video of the incident? Like was the dude dressed like that and and his finger in the air and everything? All I ever saw of the moment was that CNN video that is on youtube. I just think you can capture the murder before the shot a hell of lot better before he is shot, like showing the dude rushing the stage with the gun out, and Dime being in like full blown metal pose, not knowing he is about to be murdered. I think that would capture the essence of the moment better. This painting seems to love the chaos of the moment, and not care about who is dead. Plus, it does look comical, and for a man who had so much respect to not just the metal genre but to music as a whole, I think this is a disservice to his legacy. A better painting might have been with Dimebags body in a casket and everyone trying to sell his image around him.
No, this wasnt based on any video or photographs. I read in the local obit, and newspaper that there were never any video or photos of what happened. Yknow what? Im happy for that.
The cop killed the guy with a shotgun, so it’s not even an accurate portrayal.
Really? I’d always heard it was an off duty officer who used his pistol.
Just looked it up, guess it was a shotgun. Thought it was the dude’s back up pistol.
it was his back-up shotgun.
Is that a shotgun in your pocket?
Looks likea metalacolypse drawing. I’m not offended
my thoughts exactly. looks like a story board for one of the scenes where they kill all their fans.
I read what the artist has to say about the piece…
It’s just his imagination. Sure it might not be the best painting ever, or even close- but it is ART…
Tasteless or whatever you wanna call it…
I myself, would probably buy it, then burn it for pleasure. One mans art is another mans fire kindling…
On the other hand, I dont see why its so offensive. There are much worse, atrocious paintings and art out there…this just seems childish to me…
I do ‘like’ how that guy is jacking Dimes Whammy pedal though…small details and nuances are what draw me to this type of art…
I think something abstract would be more appropriate, like a splatter painting.
If it was a little bit different, I don’t think I would mind it. I think the picture blows, and it was painted for the purposes of being a dick and getting money rather than for art’s sake.
WTF… is that Geddy Lee on the right, holding a View-Master?
Looks like Weird Al to me.
It’s a Whammy Pedal
i noticed geddy lee one minute before you.
Damn you.
this artist clearly doesnt understand the relation with style and subject and thus this abomination was created
something so clearly cartoon-y has no business depicting such an event
I think if the painting was done in good taste and actually made some sort of commentary, I wouldn’t mind.
This painting isn’t really offensive. It just looks like a bad album cover to an 1980’s thrash metal album. If anything, I’m offended by the poor quality of the painting. If it was of a better quality, and it came off as exploitative, I’d be a little offended for the reasons some people sited above.
Wow, I honestly can’t believe people are upset about this.
To those critiquing the style and technique of the artist – I will take you seriously when you create a technically better painting.
you don’t have to be able to do something well to be able to have an opinion about it. dick.
the second part was just me being an asshole
You don’t have to have mastered something to have an opinion on it. However, I’m way more likely to take someone’s opinion seriously when then can talk from personal experience. You’ve got idiots here saying that this painting lacks perspective. Uh, if objects “nearer” are larger than objects “farther”, that’s perspective. By misusing technical terms to sound smart, they’re undermining their own credibility.
It’s fine to say that a piece of art isn’t appealing to you, or that it doesn’t move you. but to just say it “sucks” or “is shit” without explaining WHY, or in what areas it fails, is a lazy argument. But it’s worse to try and explain why something fails and use terminology incorrectly to defend your point of view – you’re basically putting up a giant sign that says “I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT”.
I find it amusing that the people would not be “conveniently” screaming in the direction of the artist. I lol’d at all the various stereotypical band t-shirts, especially the Misfits one.
Quite the drama queen fest going on at blabbermouth over this painting. Buncha’ hypocritical pussies. Fuck it, if it offends you for some reason, alter it:
http://i.imagehost.org/0559/alrosa2.jpg
I’d buy that alternative painting.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=ms20b8&s=4
might as well fuck with this a bit more:
http://a.imagehost.org/0257/alrosa3.jpg
Regardless of subject matter, this “painting” is pure and utter, amateurish shit. There’s obviously no sense of perspective or design. It basically looks like a mashup of a number of photos of people in some form of distress or discomfort, given the once over with some very basic artisitic ability. If somebody pays more than 5 bucks for this piece of crap, then they should be shot in both kneecaps.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh boo freaking hoo. Axel is right, and the metal community needs to get some thicker skin. This painting is just as tacky as over half of Pantera’s merch anyway. Sort of fitting.
if acid bath were still around, i’m pretty sure they’d use this as the cover of their next album.
can this be the photo for next week’s caption contest? There would be some great responses….
this painting is pretty weak, just looks like a stupid sketch you’d see in the newspaper. In fact it’s so wack I feel as though it’s mocking the metal community, done by a non-metal fan, rather than trying to convey a portrayal of a scene that actually occured. There’s so many sick artists that could take on the subject and give it more justice.
that painting seriously sucks. I can hardly even comprehend what is happening.
lol why is there a kid holding out a distortion pedal to the crowd?
Cuz that sucker’s going right up on eBay as soon as he gets home!
If anybody is offended by the painting and doesn’t think it should be sold or seen then you support censorship. And to that I ask why the fuck are you a metal fan in the first place?
Personally, I don’t really like this guy’s work from a stylistic point of view, but his subject matter doesn’t bother me.
Here’s his website with more of his work: http://www.tomsanford.com/
Censorship and not agreeing with everything you see is not the same. I don’t think Jeff Dunham should ever have a show (or make money or be alive) and I will argue that to my death, but I don’t expect him to be shut down. It’s an opinion, as Axl said: “Weigh in with your thoughts below.”
looks like a douche trying to cash in on dimes death with a stupid ass painting.. the only thing thats offensive is how ugly and full of random shit it has….
gay.. totaly gay
This painting doesn’t offend me as a metal fan, but certainly offends me as a person with eyes.
Not really offended… its just a terrible picture in bad taste.
Mostly the painting being so goddamn terrifying horrible.
I’ll repaint this picture by slapping my cock in paint cans and on a canvas and get back to you guys…
Art is never offensive due to it’s subject matter. It’s only offensive if it sucks. And this sucks. Ass.
wtf is this? this sucks assss.wow.
It looks like the cover of a MAD magazine…or municipal waste CD. I think the artist had a chance at creating a piece of work that would create both controversy and pay tribute to Dime. However, similar to creating music, a novel idea can not overcome the absence of technique (read: talent).
As stated above, it looks exactly like an album cover from Razor or Annihilator or one of those C-level 80’s thrash bands. Childish and amateuristic. And stupid-very, very stupid.
Annihilator, C-level? Blasphemy!
Yes it is Jeff Waters/ Annihilator murders Metallica, Anthrax and some Slayer, Megadeth though ill say Jeff has Dave in the lead department in rhythm though i’d have call it a draw
exploitation + shitty art = SHITTY EXPLOIT ART
I dunno what all the controversy is all about…that’s a kickass frame.
Fuck you guys. I’m sure there’s some of you out there that listen to A.C., and you find this offensive. Fuck you guys, fuck you.
Hmm. I believe that the dude in the lower left corner is Ziltoid, loosing his idol, his favorite band and his love for non-obscure metal.
We now know why.
sweet, everyone is still rockin out in the pit….
Hahha, the painting is exelent. You are all pussies. BAH
This is a total distortion. There are way too many girls in that crowd to make it a true metal show. With as many people are shown in that crowd by my calculation they can have 1.
fuck this painting.
isn’t people getting offensive kind of contradicting? i mean isn’t that what made metal unique? to piss everyone off who didn’t like it. sure it is one of our own, ‘dimebag’ but really the painting looks like shit anyway. although i do admire the ‘hidden grim’ under the drum set. but the painting sucks anyway.
lets all play make believe and pretend this is really an inbred party and the guy isn’t dimebag. probably the father of all the funny looking people. how bout that? i mean just look how fucked up they all look. good ole fashion rednecks getting drunk fighting/killing each other and becoming best friends about 30 minutes later drinking more. heh
I Dig this painting cause the dude is just trying to portray how he imagined it happen, BoB Dylan clearly said: “We live in the Land of the Free so I can call myself the way I fucking want” so I dont find it offensive. I guess relatives of DimeBag would and his family.. that Ill undersTand.. like some dude above said he is not supporting the incident he is just creating a drawing of it..
From the artist himself:
“Poor taste is pretty much the baseline criteria for my work, so fundamental to my project that I really do not consider it when I make a painting. I have no interest in being in good taste. My work is always subjective, inaccurate and incorrect, and I stand behind this position. I am however surprised that Metal fans would be so sensitive to taste, as it seems that their genre of music operates in a context without taste. For fucks sake, Dimebag played a guitar with a rebel flag painted on it! For any non Americans who might read this, the rebel flag is a symbol of the civil war era American south. While it is not solely a symbol of a pro-slavery political position, it cannot be divorced from this meaning, much like the swastika is forever linked to the holocaust. While I would not pretend to know Dimebag’s views on anything, and certainly not race, I do think this guitar shows he was not concerned with issues of etiquette or sensitivity to people’s feelings. I would hope I would be allowed a similar social leeway as a fellow artist. Neither paintings nor flags kill people – crazy fucks like Nathan Gale do.
More generally, I certainly respect anyone’s right to get their panties in bunch about something they find offensive. But I can’t help but be amused by the irony of this particular situation. The iconography of metal heavily features imagery of violence. The culture police are constantly complaining about its offensive and obscene song lyrics. Many, many metal albums depict images of war, rape, murder etc etc. And when the PMRC (et al.) complain I would be the first to tell them to shove it up their ass. I didn’t mean this painting to be offensive, but I am not in the least bit sorry if it is. That is not to say that I don’t empathize with the family and friends of Dimebag and all the victims, their loss must have been horrible beyond anything I can comprehend. But Art’s job is not to be polite.”
Seriously, the guy is 100% right about everything he said. I was/am a huge fan of Pantera and yes, the events which transpired back in 2005 were terrible, but I do tend to agree with those who said it’s ridiculous for people to be getting so immensely upset over the death of a public figure who they have likely never met. Yeah, it totally sucks he died, but I never knew him, for all I know he could have been a total dick. It’s common knowledge that in death, those who have passed are idolized and all of their previous sins are somehow forgotten. Hell, if I died tomorrow, I’m sure all of the people who I’ve wronged would somehow feel less inclined to blame me and would be more fogiving due to me passing away at a young age; it doesn’t mean I wasn’t a total dick to some people in life.
Yeah yeah, the subject matter doesn’t concern me. Does he have another press release where he explains his lack of talent?
win
This is fucked up. Bottom line.
I agree. Not really offense. Just kind of lame.
Exactly. Same as Dying Fetus: zzzzzzzz
You mean the picture of Mark Walhberg as Max Payne? Yeah that’s lame.
When it comes to being ugly and subversive, Francis Bacon does it a lot better.
If you didn’t know who it was, you wouldn’t even think twice about it. I guess I’ll hate Testament now because they did a song about 9/11.
Why is Joe Perry stealing a pedal from stage?
I’m not offended by the subject matter. Vinnie Paul might be but I’m not. What offends me is the arrogance of the “artist” in question. He seriously thinks he made some Picasso type work, but look at this painting. It’s fuckin’ atrocious. Frist off, it’s inaccurate as HELL.The gunman was wearing a COlumbus Blue Jackets jersey, NOT a Pantera shirt. The officer used a SHOTGUN, not a pistol. And Eddie was NOT under the drum reiser! He has an alibi!
But really, it’s the piss-poor cartoony bullshit of a painting that offends me, not the subject matter.
The painting sucks. What else is to be said?
A Vulgar Display Of Shit.
This picture looks like shit
OK, i´m not angry… but, THE PICTURE REALLY SUCKS!
I mean… the draws, HORRIBLE!
Dime Bag sucked, get the fuck off of his dead nuts and get over it.