Nigel Tomm.

Walker

Nigel Tomm is an artist.

Here's an excerpt from his adaptation of Hamlet:

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Here's one of his video blogs. There's 25 of them and, as far as I care to look, they're all like this:

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His largest work, The Blah Story, is counted by some as the longest novel ever written. Here's an excerpt from Volume 18 which, along with Volume 19, contains the world's longest sentence:

(continues from the previous volume) the blah five that very evening, a blah from the blah and a blah the blah and blah from blah blah saluted the blah, as she blah proudly out of the blah at the lively blah of blah blah an hour, at blah, late in the evening of blah, amidst the most blah blah of all the blah of blah, who blah them with a blah, blah and her blah, thoroughly used blah, blah the sun was blah in from behind blah, now, and blah her up, she was blah, all blah, and blah: a good blah, and she was well blah, blah suddenly blah blah became less blah, as blah looked at blah and realized that blah was infinitely more blah than the blah, blah girl blah had blah on the blah, who had blah her blah at a blah and had blah her blah from a blah, blah, at least, was blah, blah they had blah blah, no, of blah not; no more than they would blah any wild blah who blah as they had just blah her blah in the blah she tried to blah up, but couldn’t blah it, quite a blah it must have been blah, nothing seemed blah, but everything was slightly blah, she blah up the blah and blah it at blah, four blah blah under it, but the blah kept coming, and she blah them away like blah, but they blah her and blah on, for a few blah she blah under the blah of blah small blah, blah and blah and blah, she blah loose for a blah, but two of blah were blah to her blah and blah hit the blah with a blah; she knew blah had to blah out of blah immediately, as he was a blah, and they were blah, and she blah them for being blah little blah, and they blah at her for being a blah, she was blah a blah of their blah; she blah not part of blah world, and they blah silent and blah blah watched blah again, blah she blah him, blah, he blah her blah rising and blah evenly, not blah all like blah own thick blah after a while blah stepped close to blah, put blah arm around blah, blah her blah into the blah of blah, bent, and blah her, blah folded blah in blah arms, feeling blah warmth blah through blah, she was very blah, he blah, almost as blah as a blah blah, but with none of the blah of the blah of blah, they blah, he blah, she blah, when the blah stopped she blah him to the blah of a blah, the blah silence slowly blah into blah of blah conversation as the blah adjusted to the blah of the blah, they seemed to be blah the blah among blah, as if blah had blah something blah blah by bringing…

Volume 10 contains the second longest word in the world (2,087,214 characters long), which was generated by a computer by putting together words that ended and began with the same letter: blahookvassensuousensuousensuouspringubbinsmallefturnibblescapadescapadechoscillationucleustackookudospellablahistablahicc-upingovernmentediouspiraleftakejaculationationalismoreffectivefferentru... etc. Volume 19 contains the first longest word in the world.

He once remixed John Cage's 4'33 nine times and sold it as an album, which is interrupted by the sounds of trains, rain, and a woman masturbating during a thunderstorm. He paints colored squares, of which his only comment seems to be "I paint colored squares, that's just what I do". He openly links to reviews of his movies on his website, all of which received the lowest score possible. Of course, upon revisiting the website I am presented with a particularly uncomfortable video of him making love to a tangle of multicolored wires. There's almost no press on him, and much of what I could find seems to have been written by Nigel himself in a style so gushing that it's almost bizarre.

What do you make of this guy? Right now all I can do is laugh and hope that I get to meet him someday.

Sail

I already know that everyone on this forum is going to disagree with me, but this is the best kind of art. It's the kind of shit that makes you think and go, "Now, why on Earth did he do that?".

Art is effectively worthless without impact, and art becomes stagnant without radical experimentation to push it along.

WindUpBird

I already know that everyone on this forum is going to disagree with me, but this is the best kind of art. It's the kind of shit that makes you think and go, "Now, why on Earth did he do that?".

Art is effectively worthless without impact, and art becomes stagnant without radical experimentation to push it along.

Nah, I agree with you to an extent. That could just be because my uncle is a modern artist, but I grew up knowing that works with political, social, or psychological impact were the most important ones. The thing is that while Picasso's works had the same impact on the public at the time as this stuff has on us now, we've reached the point as a postmodern culture that the only thing that can make us possibly go "wut" in terms of psychological works of art are the most extreme forms of neo-surrealism and dadaist stuff out there, which is what people like this guy perpetuate. However, art with a sociopolitical message can still be achieved without this ridiculous mindbending.

However, I will say that my appreciation of most modern art is equal to my appreciation of all other great forms of art ("Nighthawks" probably being my favorite painting), and that this fellow's lack of press is somewhat bizarre for a figure who claims to have such a degree of notoriety. I hadn't even heard of that "longest word" deal until you posted it.

EDIT: I do, however, have to agree with an IMDB commenter who referred to the films as "utterly worthless," because they are just screens of one color drawn out for a long period of time. That's not a film, that's a lengthy photo. Just take a picture of a blue wall and name it after the work you want to "adapt" and you'll have the same result.

EDIT#2: From all the sites I've seen, all the press releases regarding "Nigel" come from a person named "Oops Thoon," who has also wrote every single gushing plot summary for Nigel's movies. Oops has also apparently published one book, all about sex, in Nigel's writing style. It's a brainfuck for sure, and I have no idea how to process any of the "art" I've seen, but I am also beginning to think that this is a very clever ruse.

Sail

lack of press is somewhat bizarre for a figure who claims to have such a degree of notoriety

I think it's fairly clear that his claims of notoriety have to do with the caricature that he has developed for himself.

That's not a film, that's a lengthy photo.

A better way of looking at something like this is through a series of questions directed at yourself. Is this something I can accept as being a film? If not, why is this not a film, while other films are? If so, then when does a film stop being a film? How far can an adaptation stray from the original and still be called an adaptation? Stuff like that. This is why people say that art is supposed to be "thought-provoking". It exists to provoke a feeling from you, and it's your job as the one experiencing it to identify what feelings, thoughts, and questions it provokes and then decide what the intention was and whether you think it is valid or effective.

I have no idea how to process any of the "art" I've seen, but I am also beginning to think that this is a very clever ruse.

Well, there was the case of the Rape Tunnel not too long ago, but even the hoax itself was meant as an artistic statement. Even if I'm right and this man is indeed creating his persona to coincide with his art pieces, that is still a statement within itself.