Charged Interview

I never thought puppets were funny. Ever. Not even in my “Sesame Street” days. But then I caught “The B-Team” from the guys at Charged, and I found Street” days. But then I caught “The B-Team” from the guys at Charged, and I found myself laughing at some funny online videos of puppetry filled with ironic humor. OK, that particular show is more dolls than puppets, but I checked out their site after seeing “The B-Team” somewhere else online, and there are a lot of other puppets there that are really funny. These guys also live very close to me in Brooklyn, so I wandered to their neck of the Gowanus Canal to sit down and chat with them. I learned a lot about puppetry and got to watch them in action. We also talked a lot about a more lofty subject: what makes art, art? What a person likes and dislikes in art is extremely personal, influenced by that person’s culture, social upbringing, and just basic likes and dislikes. Some people are super judgmental when it comes to art. I have my tastes, and I’ve definitely both been the snob and been the snubbed. There are earmarks to works of art being more artistic than others, in all media. The bottom line I think, though, is that art is art. Some is really bad, like when there is little effort, knowledge, genius, or combination thereof. And some is really good, when it does have those qualities innately. But even when it really sucks, and it still speaks to someone other than the artist…if just one other person is moved to feel something or think something by experiencing the piece…then that, I think, is art.