Some time ago I wrote at length about my disapproval of toilet paper tube art. In doing so I ended up pinning an awful lot of crap I do not even like. What I didn't think about is that people would see my pins and then also pin them. Somehow I doubt these re-pinners are as cynical as I am, and were probably re-pinning because they were actually inspired by this thing.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I try really hard to embrace this concept, but really, look at this thing. The painting is sloppily done, it's obvious that it's made of toilet paper tubes, the color palette is uninspiring, the composition is dull, and there are some cheap looking little plastic pearls glued to the flowers unnecessarily. As far as all toilet paper tube art goes, it's one of the least skillfully done projects I've ever seen. It's displeasing to look at. It's just bad. But that's just my opinion. (If I'm being honest, it's not just my opinion. This thing is objectively, not subjectively, bad.)
Yet it has the most re-pins of all of my pins combined.
I get notified every time it's re-pinned and I get to see who's re-pinned it. I click on these people to look at what they pin and sometimes I'm treated to the worst taste ever, and sometimes I find a person who seems to have pretty good taste, and perhaps just had a momentary lapse in judgement. Or maybe they're just assholes like me who enjoy ironic pinning.
It's an interesting window into what people value, and it leaves me feeling lonely sometimes. I've got these pins of people from all over the world doing their craft, and they get very few pins. Maybe it's just the luck of the Pinterest algorithms and not just that people love painted garbage more than the cultural heritage of craft.
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