u/Joebidensvalium

Hello burger enjoyers, I apologize in advance for how long this is going to be or for any formatting issues as I am on mobile.

I am a professional fine artist (MFA and exhibitions and all that jazz) and I have recently restarted my perpetual watch of BB, my absolute favorite show in the world. Holy shit you guys, the art crawl episode is so spot on about the art world, both in small local art economies like beach town art walks and the larger scene of contemporary art.

First of all, every single person who runs a small town art crawl is exactly Edith Cranwinkle. She is controlling, insistent on only one type of art being shown, and thinks that she is God’s gift to the art world.

I will say I like Gayle’s stupid butthole paintings. Would I hang them in my eatery? Maybe not. But they’re deeply unserious, hilarious, and I have a level of respect for that. I wouldn’t buy one, but paintings of private parts was an entire career for many, many artists. My first day at art school we had live model drawing and I, being a shy 18 year old, chose a spot behind the model as to avoid drawing a penis. His first pose was to bend down and grab his ankles, so my very first artwork in the professional art world ended up being a butthole drawing. Not by choice.

The censorship of the butthole drawings and subsequent conversation between Gayle and Linda, to me, was a clear reference to censorship of the works like Madame X, a John Singer Sargent painting from the 1880s that caused a huge scandal because the subject of the portrait was wearing a strapless gown. He eventually caved to the pressure of the art world and added metal straps to the gown, just like slapping underwear over a butthole.

Anyways, my real reason for making this post is the Louise arc. She is EXACTLY what a gallerist acts like, prescribing the art she wants to see be made to her artists, which she subjugates and treats like shit. She decides that if Gene and Tina want to make art that isn’t “tourist crap” they must have a gimmick (cutting off gene’s ear) to make them seem more legitimate. This is 100% still a real thing in the art world (I’m looking at you, Chris Burden!). I have seen artists I know change their names to seem more ethnic or to pretend to be a female artist. I would also like to point out that Tina has legitimate art knowledge, as displayed in her conversation about Dr. Yap’s proportions in her nude painting of him. If that was my kid, I would be encouraging her to paint and draw constantly. She shows a clear knack for and understanding of what makes a good painting. Or at least the writers do.

The way Louise treats Andy, Ollie, and “Red” is exactly how gallerists who are just trying to sell treat their artists. She is very prescriptive of the work they are making and *knows* that what she is forcing the children to produce isn’t art (like Tina and Gene were making) but more like a summer camp craft, because it is what the tourists visiting the small town art crawl want to buy.

Don’t get me wrong, small town art crawls are fantastic. Usually there are tons of extremely talented artists at these events, but people usually don’t come to art crawls to spend $2k on a painting. The shoppers coming to these events want to enjoy the ocean, the event, and maybe purchase something under $100. Most art costs more than $100, which is why so many small art walks have lots of the exact same stuff in every booth, and fewer and fewer fine artists who make expensive work are participating in events like this. The market is not conducive to a contemporary art experience. This isn’t to say that craft is bad (I am an avid crocheter and love crafts and crafters), but with such similar stuff in every booth, it is often difficult for crafters to make a profit at these events because everyone around them is also selling seashells covered in rhinestones or crochet mermaids or whatever.

TL;DR: I was blown away with the realism and attention to detail in this episode. It encapsulates a lot of the issues currently facing contemporary artists, crafters and especially artists trying to make a living from their work outside of the gallery scene, which can be really brutal and has its own set of problems.

Tina should keep taking art classes.

Hey party people,

Sorry in advance for how long this is going to be. I am a 27F USA individual with a history of anorexia (not current). I am currently dealing with diagnoses of GERD (which is super controlled), PCOS, severe anxiety and depression. I take a ton of fucking medication every day (80mg Prozac, 600mg gabapentin, biotin and vitamin d supplements, 500mg metformin 3x daily (which I have temporarily stopped taking because it was making the symptoms below worse, I’m sure), 50mg spironolactone 3x daily, 40mg famotidine, and I have a benzo scrip that I take as needed for panic attacks, usually no more than once a week, if that) but other than metformin poops sometimes (runny, but not as runny as I am currently dealing with) I have no side effects from any of these medications. I think I weigh about 140 pounds (I’m 5’2) but I don’t weigh myself because of my history of eating disorder.

I have been on Zepbound 2.5 for about five months and haven’t really had any side effects until recently. A little bit of nausea, but nothing crazy. Since my last shot (5 days ago) I have been having non-stop horrific runny stool (like, water) and gurgling stomach pain. I am also exhausted. Sorry for how graphic I am about to be, but the powdery stools are dark and sometimes contain undigested food. This also happened to me a few weeks ago, leading to me being severely dehydrated and having to go to the ER to get 3 bags of fluids and a bunch of Pepcid and zofran getting put into my veins. I am now kinda uninsured (I graduated from grad school and don’t have a job yet so I just have state insurance right now) and really don’t want to go to the doctor or er again. I do have a primary care provider I can see but I don’t know what they would be able to do for me, I guess. I have been taking otc Imodium and pepto bismol, along with lots of Gatorade to prevent dehydration and it seems to be improving my symptoms, I but I am still having issues when the meds wear off. I’m not sure if I should just ride this out or what I can even do about it. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it normal to only start having side effects after being on it for so long already with no issues? I have GERD but this isn’t like any GERD symptoms I’ve had before so I’m really not sure what the issue is. I guess it could also be related to my having PCOS but I doubt that as well. I just want it to stop and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any advice you might have!!!

Hi GERD herd,

I would really appreciate some words of encouragement and kindness right now. I am in my late 20s and my gerd has been pretty controlled for a while. For some stupid reason I didn’t take my medication for like three weeks (grad school stress) and now I am having the bolus sensation. And I’m burping a lot. I am back on my meds and they are considering upping them. I know after a few weeks I will feel better. I also have very severe anxiety (like the people at urgent care calling an ambulance on me severe) about everything in my life and the gerd certainly doesn’t help. Coupled with the stress of the last push of grad school and graduation, I feel like I am going crazy. I don’t feel like I can talk to my partner about it because he is not chronically ill and does not understand. I know I’m doing everything right to control it (I quit vaping!) but I still need some encouragement that I am 1) not dying 2) not even really in danger and 3) on top of things and handling them after my brief lapse in care of myself.