Madonna -- Art or Porn?

Warning:
This post contains a full-frontal nude photo of a 20-year-old aspiring singer, Madonna. If the nude form offends you then do not scroll down and look at the picture at the bottom of this post. You have been warned! If you scroll down, look, and then claim to be offended, it is your own fault!

I am sure that at some point most young artists starting out in the entertainment world reach a point where they need to make ends meet and get them that little bit closer to their dream.

Madonna is no different in that sense, except perhaps that she went on to live out that dream. Nevertheless, as a 20-year-old artist looking to make ends meet as she traveled on her way to super-stardom, she answered an ad for a nude model and was given the job.

The photos have appeared in Playboy Magazine in 1985 and all but one of the photos were sold in 2003. The current photo, was expected to fetch a price of up to USD 15,000 at auction. However, the photo sold for a respectable USD 37,500.

Nevertheless, as the title suggests, I am wondering when something stops being art and becomes porn or is it always art no matter where it might have appeared in the past? I am sure the photo falls foul of Indonesia's pornography laws, yet should it?

Maybe this post is just an excuse for me to post a gratuitous full-frontal nude of a 20-year-old Madonna. Then again, I might be serious when I suggest that there is a need for greater debate on the subject of art and porn. Either way, if you are offended by the naked form, my apologies!

Is this art or porn? You be the judge.

More on Virginity

It is amazing what one stumbles across while surfing the Internet. It seems that there is a thriving market in terms of auctioning off one's virginity to the highest bidder. I am wondering, irrespective of the purpose or rationale for such action, whether this is just a case of prostitution through the medium of an online auction.

Then there are other concerns like how does one know if they are getting value for money? Specifically, that the claim of virginity is real. There is plenty of research that would suggest that a simple hymen test is probably not the best indicator of virginity.

Anyways, Natalie Dylan (apparently not her real name), a student from San Diego, is intending to finance here graduate school education by selling her virginity to the highest bidder. You can find news and commentary on this here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. What is interesting, aside from the fact that this looks a little like prostitution, is that this girl apparently has an undergraduate degree in women's studies from Sacramento State (which if I am not mistaken is part of the California State University system).

By all accounts it is Howard Stern that is going to kick off the auction process. Anything that Howard Stern is involved with is likely to push the edge of the envelope and worth watching in that car wreck kind of a way.

I am not sure that I will be following this story through to its conclusion, although it was a fun read, it just has that "beat up" feel to it! That said, I would be interested to find out how much she settles for and whether or not we get to see the wining bidder.

Jimi Hendrix -- Sacrificing Guitars

Jimi Hendrix, in my mind, was the greatest guitar player of all time. It is my mind so I can think like this. I am sure others have a widely divergent view on this. To each their own.

Jimi Hendrix so loved his guitars that he once proclaimed, "The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar."

There are two burned guitars floating around. The first of these is the one that is to be auctioned on 4 September 2008. This guitar is a 1965 Fender Stratocaster and was set alight by Hendrix during a gig at the London Astoria on 31 March 1967. This particular guitar is expected to sell for about AUD 1,000,000.

Hendrix repeated the guitar burning routine in June 1967 at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival. This guitar ended up in the hands of Frank Zappa and then ultimately passed to Dweezil Zappa. However, this guitar has been restored although some scorch marks remain. The photo of this burning is the one above.

In contrast, the Astoria guitar has not been restored and is in the same burnt condition as it was in 1967. Apparently, it has been stored in the garage of the parents of Hendrix's former press secretary, Tony Garland.

The auction will be held at the Idea Generation Gallery (although I have read that the auction is to take place at the Fame Bureau) in London.

Picasso

I am a bit of a Picasso fan. I like his work as it is pleasing to my eye. I am not an art critic and I am not a big art fan. I like what I like for no other reason than I like it. You could ask me about post 19th Century abstract painters and generally my answer would be to scratch my head and say something like, "yeah, bizarre!"

However, the sale of a Picasso painting, Sylvette, smashed the Australia record for the price paid for a piece of art. The painting went for a cool AUD 6.9 million. Now, having admitted to liking Picasso's work, I am not sure I would have parted with almost 7 million large for it! Then again if I had a cool 7 million unspent then maybe I would have splashed out!

Nice painting! Nicer price!

What Price on Valour?

The sale of war memorabilia, particularly medals has raised its head again with a second Victoria Cross (the Commonwealth's highest award for valour in the face of the enemy) going to auction within the last two weeks. Some people might be dismayed that a monetary value can be placed on bravery at the highest level and others might take a more pragmatic approach to the collectables being offered for sale. Simply, everything has a price and ultimately through the process adopted we determine that value.

When it is all said and done, war medals are awarded to the individual and not to the broader community. They are private property and can be bought and sold. If this offends people then those people need to rethink the process in awarding medals for valour. If medals are public property that cannot be bought and sold then there needs to be a caveat in the awarding of the medals in the first place that states that the medal is to be displayed in a public place for the viewing pleasure of the masses.

Personally, I would hope that medals such as the Victoria Cross which is awarded for "... most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy" would be displayed in a public place like a museum so that all people can learn about the bravest of the brave, those who have laid everything on the line not for a shot at fame or glory or riches, but rather in the defence of freedom and democracy as we know it or simply to save the life of a mate in battle. That said, I cannot see a valid reason why a museum should not buy the medals themselves.

If the museum cannot afford to purchase the medals then they either need a special fund provided by the government for this purpose or work together with wealthy benefactors in the purchase of this memorabilia.

The reality is a simple one in that there would be no sale if there was no demand. Simple economics tells us that this is all about supply and demand. The demand is there and if you can supply something to fill that demand and get a price you are willing to accept into the bargain, then why not?

Let's face it, if you can sell a war medal, or an Olympic gold medal, or something similar for 500 thousand dollars and that would set you up in terms of paying for something that you need then who should prevent you from ding that. It has been reported that Shirley Strickland, one of Australia's greatest Olympians, sold her Gold medals to pay for her grand children's education.