Is this poor work for someone who is studying/has studied fine art? **title edited by MNHQ at OP's request**

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There is building works going on around Wolverhampton.

Massive changes to the local shopping centres with lots of closed down shops and noise.

There are attempts at brightening up the space with 'art'.

One shop space has been turned into a 'gallery' 'curated' by students/recent graduates from the local uni which isn't much more than decals and picture boards stuck to the walls.

There has been work done on murals in the wider open space with one taking one woman days to produce.

Days of climbing up and down a ladder surrounded by barriers, carefully painting a large mural with a huge blank space in rhe middle.

On and off, she has spent weeks working on this opus, painstakingly creating the city's motto against a backdrop of a hellish industrial backdrop.

Today I saw the finished, um, thing.

It turns out she's been working on panels elsewhere to stick on the blank bird/angel space in the middle of the mural.

Ladies and gentlemen!

Allow me to present Wolverhampton's one and only

FLAMING PISSED OFF TURKEY FROM HELL

Seriously?

WTAF?

To my eye, it honestly looks like a not particularly talented teenager had a go a scaling up a picture she saw in an art book.

Please tell me this wasn't paid for???

Wolverhampton isn't in the blank country though

Op why don't you approach the council then, suggest you do something, then we can all mercilessly rip the shit out of it. Of course, you won't mind that will you?

It looks a bit like the Iron Chicken in the Clangers (the original version !)

If they wanted a display of cross stitch projects, they could come to me.

There are a couple of artists groups and collectives, a photography club which holds an annual competition and a local Embroiderers Guild.

If the shopping centre management had looked a little further afield, there's plenty of talent out there.

I don't dislike it. The lower half does look like a pair of hairy bollocks to me though. Try as I might I can't unsee them

Are you the mural police now?

Here's a thought: create your own artistic mural at home then post it here.

YABU to call Heath Town a dump. Come down here and bloody say that to me.

I live in All Saints. That's the grandaddy of dumps.

Like I said. I envy the art of Heath Town.

Art is very subjectime. Crap or beauty, it's all in the eye of the beholder. It's likely that something you would find arty someone else would find crap op.

It's not my taste either but I find a lot of art that isn't. Also it depends on my mood at the time

Go got it then op. I look forward to seeing your efforts ripped apart here open to public scrutiny

I was going to NC but fuck it.

Wolves Graduate here, BA Hons. I graduated 6 years ago and presume not a lot has changed.

What happens is each area is given an end of year project, the motto of Wolverhampton City is 'Out of Darkness Cometh Light' so there is only that to work with.
You'll get the fashion, graphics (possibly the excellent buildings you seem to think you can recreate), fine art, pottery, photography etc all giving their take on the motto. Selected works are then chosen to exhibit or, in some cases to brighten up dull areas of the city.
This looks great in a students portfolio and will be a talking point for them at future interviews.

Art is subjective, but ultimately noticeable. You're here talking about it, it's a success. Love it or hate it, it's provoked discussion, therefore I suspect the artist has achieved their goal.

I like Clifford the Big Yella Dug.

For what it is, I like it. And what it is, imo, is a student's attempt to recreate a picture on a large scale, perhaps for the first time. Some bits are more well executed than others, but so what? I rather like the edging of the wings. There's a delicate effect, somehow.

The mural of the buildings is lovely. Really striking.

I quite like it too.

It's done by someone who went to art college as a mature student - I think that's pretty admirable.

I don't like it. I do think it's "shit" and I think any art put up in the public eye is up for criticism. However I also think stuff in the Tate is "shit" so it's all the eye of the beholder. I have also created some really "shit" art myself and still loved it.

I don't think OP is BU to want a better quality of art work from a professional artist but if this is a student's work it's a bit far to publicly slander it. You just walk past, say "oh that's shit" then keep on walking.

I like the graphics buildings they look very precise I think accurate measurements are difficult.

Ah op, I see you've asked for the title to be toned down

That's...er...not very good. Unless it's supposed to be the evil penguin from 'The Wrong Trousers' in a Rio Carnival outfit, in which case it's great. Look on the bright side, though, it's only temporary and probably didn't cost very much. Cambridge council paid £50,000 for this representation of a now-dead, well known local character. Oddly enough he didn't actually look like a collection of deformed weebles lurking under a liquorice allsort.

FatherJemimaRacktool

You win.

Who's it meant to be?

I don't think the bird one is bad, and I like the buildings one (and think the 'I could have done that' statement the OP made is just redundant/ignorant).

It does look like a flaming turkey from hell.
Weirdly small head too.

It;s a phoenix, isn't it?

I think (correct if wrong) that phoenixs are meant to be born/resurrected screaming, which may account for the head, which I agree is possibly a bit off when examined closely.

The rest-the use of colour and general execution and the motto, I like. As a Black Country wench, I see that the light/dark contrast as a theme is pretty standard and understandable.

Look at the work of Edwin Butler Baylis ...

I walked past it today. I think it looks really lovely in real life to be honest- much better than I originally thought.

I did think flaming turkey from hell though and started to giggle

I saw a short video on Facebook the other day. It says that to be a successful artist you need to be able to do work that is finished, not perfect. I think that has a lot of truth to it.

I like it. Art's subjective.

They worked hard on it and are probably proud. Bit mean to piss on their chips like this.

Is there a spare panel? We could commission you to do one for us of anyone has any suggestions. Maybe a giant DM sad face pointing at the Phoenix.

Colour scheme and feathering works for me, though I don't find the proportions of the wings right for my taste. I also think that a phoenix doesn't fit the motto: a phoenix is born of fire, not darkness, and really typifies "life from the flames" or "forged in the crucible".

"Out of darkness cometh light", if not sticking with the obvious religious imagery, should really be the first light of dawn over the planet, or a signet ring solar eclipse, or a match being struck.

But each to their own. I've seen worse. And it doesn't look like a turkey to me (even with my glasses off!)