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Untitled (broken glass)

February 6th, 2009 · 99 comments

When you live with six art students (like Kate in London), you might find that life imitates art more often than you’d like.

related: Oxford drama

FILED UNDER: art · CAPS LOCK · cleaning · college life · London · most popular notes of 2009 · roommates

99 responses so far ↓

#1 JoelWhy

We’ll start the bidding at $10,000.

Feb 6, 2009 at 12:38 pm rating: 90

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- #1.1 TheOldSchool
  
  $9,000. (And I’m willing to go lower!)
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:22 pm rating: 90
- #1.2 Monkey Speaks
  
  8,000!
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:22 pm rating: 90
- #1.3 Wade
  
  £4000
  
  It is in London.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:41 pm rating: 90
- #1.4 Mishee
  
  I’d rather buy that Sister for Sale I heard about.
  
  She may be crying and spying, but I could get her for a penny! Then I could just make her clean up the mess!!
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 2:24 pm rating: 90
- #1.5 Hod
  
  I anticipate this artist facing the same challenges Banksy has in selling his art. How do you sell art done on public spaces, and how do you prove the authenticity of the artist?
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 3:08 pm rating: 90
- #1.6 JoelWhy
  
  “£4000
  
  It is in London.”
  
  Ooooh, foreign money! I hear that’s still actually worth something.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 5:01 pm rating: 90
- #1.7 hall monitor
  
  I don’t think it should be for sale. It belongs in a museum.
  
  Hall Monitor
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 3:55 pm rating: 90
- #1.8 Bunnee
  
  Mishee–You’re really not kidding? Who’ll start the bidding?
  
  Feb 9, 2009 at 10:28 am rating: 90
- #1.9 Krystal Pistol
  
  I agree with hall monitor. Doesn’t art belong to us all? Just in case, I bid half a box of cheese-its.
  
  Feb 10, 2009 at 1:03 pm rating: 90
- #1.10 Fuelle Noviue
  
  I take your bid and bet the same ammount, but in €uros.
  
  Feb 12, 2009 at 5:29 am rating: 90
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#2 Doesn't Pull Out

Can we have some interpretive dance to go with it? I envision a hipster art student flipping the bird, but with a really blase look on his/her face.

Feb 6, 2009 at 12:42 pm rating: 90

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- #2.1 claw71
  
  That’s why they really need to diversify fine arts degrees. The secret to a quality bird flip is the emotion behind it. If only those interpretive art students took a few method acting courses.
  
  When I flip the bird I do it right. I dig deep into my soul and find every flicker of rage. When that middle finger unfurls it’s like a laser beam of hatred that makes grown men cry and triggers instant menopause in women. It’s intense. I usually need a nap after I flip somebody off.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:01 pm rating: 90
- #2.2 Mishee
  
  Personally, I prefer to use my middle finger for good, not evil.
  
  And yes, that’s exactly what I mean.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 2:12 pm rating: 90
- #2.3 se
  
  the gift that keeps on giving … pleasure
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm rating: 90
- #2.4 unfortunate names
  
  dirty bird!
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 6:45 pm rating: 90
- #2.5 Krystal Pistol
  
  Is it wrong that Claw’s discourse excited me?
  
  Feb 10, 2009 at 1:07 pm rating: 90
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#3 Monkey Speaks

Does this mean I can take a picture of the huge scratch on my leg and title it ‘Will you fucking clip the dogs nails already?’

Feb 6, 2009 at 12:46 pm rating: 90

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- #3.1 Clumber
  
  I already clipped their nails – the problem is they are sharp-edged now. YOU promised you were going to Dremel the edges!
  
  Feb 9, 2009 at 12:27 pm rating: 90
- #3.2 Monkey Speaks
  
  uuuggghhhhh. But the dog totally prefers when YYYOOUUU dremel it.
  
  And walk it
  
  And pick up its poop.
  
  The lease is hanging on its hook – Thanks!
  
  Feb 9, 2009 at 1:32 pm rating: 90
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#4 claw71

Could you imagine a similar scene at a law school? I don’t know if there’s enough floor space for all the briefs.

Feb 6, 2009 at 12:55 pm rating: 90

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- #4.1 se
  
  If there are briefs, would there also be socks?
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 7:15 pm rating: 90
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#5 MAMARILLA2

If I try this at home they just say I’m grumpy and leave me to clean it up anyway.

Feb 6, 2009 at 12:55 pm rating: 90

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- #5.1 Frankie
  
  I do that Rilla. If the trash can is full and my husband still hasn’t taken it out I just start throwing the trash on the floor. He just laughs at me though. We’ll see who’s laughing when I start feeding him off of used paper plates though won’t we…
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:00 pm rating: 90
- #5.2 claw71
  
  I assume he’s a guy, Frankie. If not for you he’d probably eat every meal right out of the sink.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:02 pm rating: 90
- #5.3 Frankie
  
  No, he was too spoiled by his mommy. And that bitch hates me because I make him do stuff he doesn’t wanna do. Like shower at least every other day and wipe his own ass.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:06 pm rating: 90
- #5.4 Monkey Speaks
  
  My friends boyfriend broke a glass like that. It sat there for a month before he finally cleaned it up. She didn’t leave a note but I thik the broom and empty garbage bag that she laid next to it was PA enough.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:07 pm rating: 90
- #5.5 Monkey Speaks
  
  make sure he changes his underwear too. Apparently
  
  “I only wore it for a few hours yesterday, they are still totally clean” is a common reasoning tactic.
  
  You know you have a problem when they shower and in lieu of reaching into the drawer for a fresh pair of skivvies they reach down onto the floor and put the old pair back on. Cause its just way easier.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:10 pm rating: 90
- #5.6 Frankie
  
  I don’t have that problem. The dogs tear them apart when he leaves them on the floor. He leaves them on the floor every time he takes them off.
  
  I’m constantly buying underwear for him, but his balls smell heavenly…(most of the time)
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm rating: 90
- #5.7 Monkey Speaks
  
  I want heavenly smelling balls! I should train our dog to eat his undies huh
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:23 pm rating: 90
- #5.8 claw71
  
  My balls smell heathen-ly…is that close enough?
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 2:53 pm rating: 90
- #5.9 MAMARILLA2
  
  What is it with guys and their balls? Oh, never mind….
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 2:58 pm rating: 90
- #5.10 Monkey Speaks
  
  So, funny enough – I’m having a somewhat frustrating day – which is fine. They happen. And its only making me look forward to working out later… cause I take out my aggression on tennis shoes (im like a dog in that sense).
  
  So you can imagine my surprise when my boo calls me to “just say hi.” I get a second to vent (ok he pries it outof me since “we’ll talk about it tonight” didn’t work since when his interest is piqued you have no choice) and so im sitting here going… yay… this made me happy… until…
  
  “Yea hunny. Anyway, what’s up? Just callin to say hi?”
  “Yea… well and… what time are you coming home tonight”
  (this is when i’m thinking OMG how SWEET! He misses me).
  “Well, when do you want me home… I can leave after six but will try and get home earlier”
  “Whenever, its just… [friend] is coming over and I was hoping you could straighten the apartment up before he gets there ”
  
  To recount: frustrating day and what is seemingly loving sweetness from sig other really is “hunnnnnyyyy wil you CLEAN for me”
  
  Of course I’m the worlds best girlfriend and instead of telling him to shove the swiffer up his ass i told him I’d tidy up before my run tonight. Cause. Yea.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 4:26 pm rating: 90
- #5.11 Monkey Speaks
  
  And yes Claw – actually the fact that your balls are heavenly scented has made me feel a bit better.
  
  (which, btw, when I think of heavenly scented balls, “OM” by the gap comes to mind)
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 4:27 pm rating: 90
- #5.12 TheOldSchool
  
  Claw……TOO close! Back up, fercrissakes!
  
  Women fainting, horses bustin’ loose. ….
  
  Didn’t you promise the mayor, you’d dip ‘em in the trough before entering public buildings?
  
  Damn! Look at the walls! There goes the paint, a peelin’ and a puckerin’ right before our eyes!
  
  Help me, someone…. I’m dying! Thanks, for he offer, Claw, but I’ll have to take a rain check. Help!
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 5:51 pm rating: 90
- #5.13 Saysh
  
  Mmmmm heathen.
  
  My most favorite flavor!!
  
  Thanks Claw!
  
  Feb 8, 2009 at 7:52 am rating: 90
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#6 Monkey Speaks

Frankie – don’t you know – boys not only have this strange inability to clean but they have wild imaginations that lead them to believe they DO clean an they clean all the time, so when we ask them to do something its like being hit out of left field.

What do you mean I never clean. I totally took out the trash a month ago!

But… I like the way you think frankie – Now I have a whole new way to entertain myself with the chinete!!!

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:09 pm rating: 90

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- #6.1 MAMARILLA2
  
  Ah yes, the different levels of clean clothes theory. Only works for guys though.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:16 pm rating: 90
- #6.2 Monkey Speaks
  
  Yea. I used to think us going to the laundromat was really adorable and coupl-ey. Then I realized. It was a dirty scheme to get me to fold his clothing.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm rating: 90
- #6.3 Mark
  
  MS, it’s not a boy-girl thing. It’s a person thing. I do almost all the cleaning at my house. I do all the vacuuming, dusting, laundry, trash/recycling, half the dishes, 1/3 of the cooking, …etc. If you backread, you’ll eventually come across one of my drunken rants on the subject.
  
  I feel the need to defend my gender, from time to time.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 4:20 pm rating: 90
- #6.4 every guy in the world
  
  to my girlfriend, who is constantly nagging me about how filthy things are around the house:
  
  look, can i just clear one thing up?
  
  i don’t give a damn if the apartment is clean or not – never have, never will. if you want things clean and tidy, well, feel free to tidy up. if you don’t, don’t. but don’t sit there nagging me about it all the time! i never told you you needed to clean up around the apartment! it’s obviously your obsession not mine.
  
  if you think i’m lying, recall how my apartment looked when we first started dating. case closed.
  
  Feb 21, 2009 at 3:16 am rating: 90
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#7 leftfoot

I totally do the trash thing to my husband. That’s his ONLY job around the house (and he contracts from home). So when it’s piled up I get out my trusty sticky notes and leave them all over the place and hide his soda. I’m quite PA at moments.

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:11 pm rating: 90

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- #7.1 Monkey Speaks
  
  I <3 stickies
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm rating: 90
- #7.2 Frankie
  
  You should click on my name then.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm rating: 90
- #7.3 Monkey Speaks
  
  Not only did I do that last night and discover your amazing site – but I am a follower now
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 2:35 pm rating: 90
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#8 amy d

But, I don’t see any shit.

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:13 pm rating: 90

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#9 amy d

Is Samuel L. Jackson the narrator for this art?

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:17 pm rating: 90

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- #9.1 SarahBelle
  
  No. Because then it would have been mother fuckin’. Not just an ordinary fuck.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 2:02 am rating: 90
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#10 TheOldSchool

I like this piece. Yet, it could have been more transcendent had the artist shown the foresight to include JarHead poster reflecting off the floor in the upper part of the photo.

Conceptual artists are born, not taught.

And they keep being born. Regrettably.

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:18 pm rating: 90

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#11 Joe

Has this glass been on the floor for nearly a whole year?! The apathy is contagious!

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm rating: 90

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#12 MW

Wow, someone’s in a crappy fucking mood. Just pick up the glass and fucking throw it away, you self-righteous freak!

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm rating: 90

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#13 claw71

Optimist: sees the glass half full

Pessimist: sees the glass half empty

Art Student: breaks the glass but can’t clean it up because he’s rushing off to cash another lifestyle subsidy check from daddy. *

*Of course this is much better the the journalism school student who will spend the entire summer living on daddy’s dime at an unpaid internship.

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm rating: 90

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#14 Wade

Let’s see…

broken glass = FUCK YOU (jagged and dangerous)

sp0nge = I’M FED UP (can’t absorb any more)

mop = CLEAN YOUR SHIT UP (this is where the narrative becomes too literal and pedestrian)

Feb 6, 2009 at 1:45 pm rating: 90

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- #14.1 TheOldSchool
  
  Wade,
  
  Nice work, picking up the symbolistic intent.
  
  Another interpretation:
  
  mop = panting phallus
  
  broken glass = rabbit hole filled with warm meat
  
  sponge = forest memories
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 4:32 pm rating: 90
- #14.2 Wade
  
  LOL
  
  You are just one syllable short of a haiku there, TheOldSchool
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 5:20 pm rating: 90
- #14.3 TheOldSchool
  
  Story of my life
  Haiku’s one syllable-short
  Still, I blather on
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 3:14 pm rating: 90
- #14.4 TheOldSchool
  
  Wade,
  
  I’ve been insulted many times, in many ways, but never so elegantly as the way you did it in 14.2.
  
  Well done.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 5:36 pm rating: 90
- #14.5 Canthz_B
  
  TOS, Wade certainly has a way with a stiletto (blade, not heel ), but in this case I think he was wielding an olive branch.
  
  Feb 8, 2009 at 12:07 pm rating: 90
- #14.6 Wade
  
  LOL… I was commenting (with admiration) on how close your interpretation at 14.1 came to a haiku (4-7-5), TheOldSchool.
  
  But I agree…it does make a most elegant insult.
  
  Feb 8, 2009 at 12:54 pm rating: 90
- #14.7 TheOldSchool
  
  Wade & Canthz B,
  
  I think 14.2 is a PAN masterpiece.
  
  Like the note itself, it is capable of being interpreted two very different ways.
  
  What’s more, it was logical with either interpretation.
  
  CB, I agree with your assessment, except for one detail. Apparently you never saw the youtube of Wade on the runway of the Chez Nous, circa 2006. He had the confident stride of one utterly at ease swanning about a room full of high heels while wearing stilettos.
  
  Wade, I believe a haiku should be 5-7-5, but I may be mixing that up with a slang name for a fashionable drug.
  
  Feb 8, 2009 at 3:10 pm rating: 90
- #14.8 Wade
  
  It is indeed 5-7-5, TheOldSchool (though I cannot confirm or deny 475 as slang for enhanced 420).
  
  I was merely pointing out that the phrase panting phallus is four syllables in length, thus leaving you one shy of the requisite 17.
  
  As for Chez Nous…well, that was a magical moment.
  
  Feb 8, 2009 at 3:17 pm rating: 90
- #14.9 TheOldSchool
  
  Wade, I do think you should go with the hose, heels n’ hot pants motif more often. Not many can carry it off like you do.
  
  I love the looks I get when I rollerblade in hot pants, but when I switch blades for heels my sashaying becomes too tentative.
  
  Wade, how do you manage to mince in heels?
  I’ve tried and failed too many times to count.
  
  As you know, for me, a night without mincing is a night at home wincing.
  
  Between you and Claw: shangrila.
  
  Feb 8, 2009 at 8:10 pm rating: 90
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#15 Lovey

You know what would make this great? If they made it into a movie. “The broken glass/Fuck You Code.” James Earl Jones and Sean Connery should star. They could just read the phone book, because their voices are heavenly. It would be pointless and heavenly, just like this art!

Feb 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm rating: 90

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#16 Mishee

Who else just wants to start belting out Annie Lennox right now??? Thanks for the earworm kerry!

I’m living in an empty room
With all the windows smashed
And I’ve got so little left to lose
That it feels just like I’m walking on broken glass

Feb 6, 2009 at 2:07 pm rating: 90

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#17 Melanie

I’ll clean my shit up [sic] when you stop ending sentences with prepositions.

Team I Can Haz Grammar Plz?

Feb 6, 2009 at 2:15 pm rating: 90

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#18 Wade

Wait a minute! If this is in London, perhaps the artist in question is Dustin!

I was going to check the link Kerry provided, but lost interest in the project.

Feb 6, 2009 at 2:18 pm rating: 90

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- #18.1 Mishee
  
  Do you see a cravat lying about?
  
  Geez Wade, you had to bring that joke up again?? That’s just soooo cliché!
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 2:20 pm rating: 90
- #18.2 Canthz_B
  
  Good timing, Wade, given the past few days here.
  Is there a law or other prohibition in England against cleaning up broken glass?
  Clean-up of broken glass is a “right away” activity, not at all like cat poop.
  
  I was going to list a whole range of disgusting things I like to leave around, but I lost interest in the project.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 12:27 am rating: 90
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#19 Emma

Better than a dance version.

Feb 6, 2009 at 2:43 pm rating: 90

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- #19.1 Themiki
  
  Actually, the broken glass leads me to believe an interpretive dance version could be very very entertaining.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 3:02 pm rating: 90
- #19.2 MAMARILLA2
  
  Kind of like Lord of the Dance with blood.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 3:30 pm rating: 90
- #19.3 Mishee
  
  But at least Lord of the Dance wears shoes.
  
  I wouldn’t want to see it as a ballet.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 4:13 pm rating: 90
- #19.4 park rose
  
  Kind of like Lord of the Dance with blood.
  
  That would be Sliver Dance, Mamarilla.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 8:56 am rating: 90
- #19.5 matt
  
  I believe the Shaolin monks would be very interested in this art piece, they could even use it in the morning training routines: 50 pinky pushups on top of the broken edge, now thats hardcare art
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 9:27 am rating: 90
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#20 ummmmheyyyy

I would have picked everything up and dumped it passive-aggressively onto the culprit’s bed. But that’s just me.

Feb 6, 2009 at 3:25 pm rating: 90

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- #20.1 Mishee
  
  If that had happened, what would we be doing today while at work?
  
  Working??? I think not!
  
  (just thankful to the PANGoddess that it’s not Facebook Friday)
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 4:14 pm rating: 90
- #20.2 MAMARILLA2
  
  Kind of reminds me of the time when MrRilla picked up all the strewn about kids shoes (the teens of course) in the house and put them in the freezer. Oh the merryment that ensued.
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 4:15 pm rating: 90
- #20.3 Bose
  
  I’m pretty sure that’s just openly hostile, um. It’d be an aggressive action with no passive pretense.
  
  Talking about how much your roommate would deserve it if you put the mess in his bed, while talking on the telephone with a friend, and said roommate is “accidently” within earshot, that seems more passive aggressive to me.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 2:43 pm rating: 90
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#21 mere

huh, all this and i can’t get past ‘clean your shit up’.
shouldn’t it be ‘and clean up your shit’? i think it sounds better.

Feb 6, 2009 at 4:04 pm rating: 90

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- #21.1 park rose
  
  It’s a phrasal verb; either way is okay. Though I guess Strunk might have something to say about it.
  
  Take your clothes off; take off your clothes … the outcome is the same (though there are exceptions, of course).
  
  Feb 6, 2009 at 8:27 pm rating: 90
- #21.2 Andy
  
  Two words: ART school.
  
  Feb 9, 2009 at 9:46 am rating: 90
- #21.3 aradia
  
  You’re right, of course, Rose. The outcome in both cases is a big, old-fashioned bitch slap when asked to remove clothing, regardless of the sentence structure.
  
  Mar 8, 2009 at 4:06 pm rating: 90
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#22 Canthz_B

This piece really could have used a commode as well.

Feb 6, 2009 at 7:26 pm rating: 90

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- #22.1 Wolverine Girl
  
  Or maybe some colouring book pictures, lovingly embellished with exhortations to clean up the shit, cause that’s what cool kids do. Or threats that if it isn’t cleaned up, the perpetrator will have to remove said shit from their internal cavities with a dinglehopper.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 3:34 am rating: 90
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#23 you suck at craigslist

“Who gives a fuck about an Oxford drama?
I doooooo …. I dooooo …..”

(-Vampire Weekend, “Oxford Comma”)

Feb 7, 2009 at 9:47 am rating: 90

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#24 secondsout

If it were just a broken glass, I might have cleaned it up. Now that I know it’s an art piece, I dare not. I don’t want to offend the artist.

Feb 7, 2009 at 1:48 pm rating: 90

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- #24.1 TheOldSchool
  
  You should film yourself doing it and then being confronted by the other artist. Voila! You have your video/performance piece ready to turn in.
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 3:17 pm rating: 90
- #24.2 mamason
  
  “You should film yourself doing it”
  
  Feb 7, 2009 at 6:44 pm rating: 90
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#25 Alexander

Well it IS a beautiful photograph.

Feb 11, 2009 at 11:50 am rating: 90

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#26 MyLifeInaCube.com

My kid could make that.

Feb 12, 2009 at 1:47 am rating: 90

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#27 rob

reminds me of a work I did in college

Feb 12, 2009 at 5:33 am rating: 90

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#28 Martin

haha brilliant, i know where this is going lol

Feb 12, 2009 at 5:47 am rating: 90

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#29 photo sharing

pretty cool! shame about the flickr fail though

Feb 12, 2009 at 8:32 am rating: 90

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#30 HairySwede

good art needs no explanation

Feb 21, 2009 at 11:00 am rating: 90

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#31 mullerjeanfrancois

cleaned it up.

Mar 2, 2009 at 4:59 am rating: 90

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#32 gesundheit

Sehr wertvolle Informationen! Empfehlen!

Mar 11, 2009 at 9:49 am rating: 90

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#33 the ripped-off tabs are what get me

[...] related: untitled (broken glass) [...]

Mar 18, 2009 at 3:25 pm rating: 90

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#34 Does your roommate have note-writing diarrhea? | PassiveAggressiveNotes.com — funny (if not necessarily "passive-aggressive") notes from pissed-off people

[...] (Untitled) Broken Glass [...]

Jun 7, 2010 at 6:01 pm rating: 90

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#35 Grocery cart art | PassiveAggressiveNotes.com

[...] Untitled (Broken Glass) TweetShare0mail [...]

Feb 12, 2011 at 4:20 pm rating: 90

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