Nomination Help: "Art" in a Chipotle Denied

I am saying "Art" in quotes for two reasons. One is I find people's definition of art varies widely. I have had art denied before, although it may just be people denying the art because it is inside and not outside. The second reason is I feel like Niantic's new acceptance criteria devalues art. I mean a place to explore, a place to be social with others, and something that encourages exercise all qualify now, but how does art fit into that definition. How many of the reviewers will go to Chipotle just to see the Aztec faces on the wall? I thought it was really cool and thought wow I haven't seen that anywhere else so I will nominate it. Did I just get bad reviewers or do people think this doesn't qualify?



Comments

  • MargariteDVille-INGMargariteDVille-ING Posts: 2,846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nice find!

    Google "Aztec plaster bas relief mural" and you'll be able to talk more convincingly about it. Or maybe it's a mid relief or high relief? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief

    Also, if you could ask an employee what's the story about it... after they go ask their manager... you might get a good story. In the Criteria challenge results, Niantic gushed about how much a good story helps. Maybe they ordered it from a specialty studio in Mexico, and one square broke in transport, so they got a local artist to build a replacement, and now they create plaster bas reliefs all over town. You never know unless you ask.

    Art always qualifies as a place to explore. People seek out all the art in a place, or by a specific artist, or by topic (like angels or cows).

    But yes, it's harder to get art inside a building. And maybe it shouldn't be, but it is. So you need to research a little, and make it more compelling that THIS is COOL, REAL ART.

  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    I needed you as a reviewer :)

  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    Look what I found! The link goes to a story about a guy who saw the "Mayan" (not Aztec) art at Chipotle and investigated it. Turns out the art is created by a company for Chipotle. The bas relief 6 tiles he has in his picture are different from mine, which tells me these are original and not mass produced. Thanks!

  • MargariteDVille-INGMargariteDVille-ING Posts: 2,846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow! That's FANTASTIC!!

  • Gendgi-PGOGendgi-PGO Posts: 3,534 Ambassador

    I'm glad you found that article because it pops up every year or so on the Wayfarer Discussion Discord server I'm in.

    Debate always ensues on if this falls under "generic and uninteresting mass produced corporate art" with some of the loudest saying "Niantic explicitly says that's ineligible" while ignoring that this is far less common than many other things Niantic has given the go-ahead for.

    You didn't provide your supporting text. Based solely on your description (not even looking at the location) I probably would have rejected since I know it's at most if not all Chipotle locations. But make the description more interesting and help me learn about it and excited to see it, and I'm all for it!

  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    That is funny since I eat at Chipotle all the time and have never seen it before (have never been to this one). I did find out that they aren't all the same though because the screenshot in that article may be 6 faces, but it is not the same 6 faces that is in my submission. Therefore it is not mass produced. It looks like they likely have a bunch of tiles and put them together differently for each one.

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,469 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @CopperChick-PGO I think "mass produced" depends upon how many are out in the world rather than the technique. If there are a couple dozen of them in the world then I'd buy it but if there's one in half the stores in the world then it's clearly mass-produced. The technique you described sounds exactly like a mass production process to me.

  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    Then why does every PF Chang horse statue have a Pokestop/gym in Pokemon Go? The hypocrisy gets me.

    I go into Chipotle's maybe once per month or two and have never seen this art on the wall so it must not be used much in my area. In fact I have never seen the same art in 2 different Chipotle's.

  • Pokeygardener-PGOPokeygardener-PGO Posts: 28 ✭✭

    To reiterate some of the comments. This may be helpful. By the way, the artist listed does all of Chipotle's art.


  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,469 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @CopperChick-PGO First, something being accepted doesn't mean it was correctly accepted. Part of the reason that there are a lot of PF Chang horses in the games is the same reason that there are tons of subdivision entrance signs and little free libraries on private residential property-- people see them in the games and assume that they're acceptable so they are more likely to submit them and more likely to accept them when reviewing.

    Second, I can see a difference between a smallish piece of art hanging on a wall and a big statue of a horse standing outside. I'm not arguing that they're eligible, just pointing out that there are some differences between the two.

  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    Last week I saw a Chick-Fil-La with a Pokestop :(

    No art, just a picture of their sign with the playground clearly visible. And once it is in you can't get it out.


    I knew someone who put his own personal auto parts statue outside his apartment and submitted it and claimed it was art through some city program and he got it accepted. He then nominated something down the street so that Pokestop turned into a gym. I tried scanning to show it wasn't there and then tried trice to get it removed and both times I was told it was valid. He got his friends to say the art was stolen shortly after it was submitted. Another friend told me after it got accepted he wanted to loan the parts statue to his friends so they could all get Pokestops or gyms at their places of residence. I actually reviewed both of his attempts and gave them 1* each time and still hit myself for not flagging the second one as abuse. It was the second one that made me realize it was his statue because after I saw the first one I told him it likely didn't get through because it was at the apartment entry sign. The second time I got it the statue was nowhere near the sign and further down the wall line.

  • PaulingZubat-PGOPaulingZubat-PGO Posts: 604 Ambassador

    I have the same query with art reproductions.

    If replicability is a demerit, what about foyer fountains or mural reproductions of "the Great Wave off Kanagawa" and other famous art in the context that it is used for business design? Does having limited edition or limited reproductions demerit to the fact that it is artistic and recognizable?

    I can see that that one PF Chang horse is the PF Chang horse of this-that street and another from another establishment. I have no background to these horses before this thread, quick googling seems to be placed in every related businesses. But assuming location is ok for the sculpture, comparing a horse sculpture over those signs and LFL in PRP seems like a leap? As an example: the logo from the criteria challenge, the horses have an added context relevant to the conglomerate just as the logo is appealing (to Tintino, at least).

    I think there is a gray area with artistic merit overturning "mass-produced" and that would fall into the subjective lens of each reviewer. As someone points out frequently, there is a matter of


  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    Accepted! Thanks for the advice - I used it.

  • CopperChick-PGOCopperChick-PGO Posts: 272 ✭✭✭

    FYI - my second attempt was approved!

  • Elijustrying-INGElijustrying-ING Posts: 5,482 Ambassador

    😍yesssss

    thanks for letting us know

Sign In or Register to comment.