Art is awesome because it can be so many things to so many people. Often UK tabloid papers destroy modern art when the turner prize is announced...bemoaning that anything other than a canvas depicting a bowl of fruit or a horse is NOT ART..and of course this is wrong, art is many many things to many many people. I dont get some art, but then i know it is still valid to those that enjoy it, in the same way i know art that i enjoy doesnt define or relate to 'art' for other people ....BUT there are still sometimes, only rarely however, when something is presented as art, and is just WRONG...now i know this is a moral side i am taking but this is my blog and i feel this is very very wrong...even if in theory it could be art, i still feel there is no place in this world for this to be happnening....what am i talking about? well over on the arkitip intelligence blogs, Damon Ways recent post highlighted something that i urge you to help stop.
I will copy and paste what Damon Way said....
"Fuck This Guy!!!
Can you believe this crap… In 2007, the ‘artist’ Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death. For several days, the ‘artist’ and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful ‘masterpiece’ based on the dog’s agony, until eventually he died. But this is not all… the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the ‘installation’ was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008. I am hitting this ceiling with this… boycott this scumbag and do your part to stop it…"
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND SIGN THIS PETITION
2 comments:
It may seem un-PC, but I have to disagree. Blogger won't allow me to post links here- but further reading (Google: Guillermo Vargas Habacuc) on this subject has lead to my understanding that this installation piece has been widely criticized by the online community, and also taken completely out of context.
Un-surprisingly, most of the artists explanations for the piece have been censored on facebook petitions and interrupted with things like "THIS IS SO SAD LOLZ" and comparing the artwork to tying up a starving child.
It also seems that facts regarding the artist himself, including his age and previous works, have been widely mis-reported. Many articles state the artist is in his 50's, although he's actually in his early 30's. There is very little documentation of the artists statement or reason for the piece, and most of his quotes re-posted on blogs have been butchered mercilessly.
For me, all art spawns from anger, upset and despair. This is a beautiful piece of work that portrays all of these emotions, and has clearly succeeded in producing many more. I almost wish that it didn't have all this controversy surrounding it, so people could really think about what it is intended to portray as opposed to what it appears to be.
It's also worth noting that in Nicaragua, feral dogs and cats are a massive, massive problem. Aside their obvious health risks, they are routinely beaten to death, burned alive or drowned by local people and authorities. The dog in question (I believe it was named 'Nativity') was terminally ill and on the brink of death before being captured by a bunch of street kids. Something they are routinely paid to do by local residents and police. The only difference is that this dog got to stand in an art gallery for two days as opposed to being beaten to death where it stood with a lump of wood.
My last point is that apart from the artist himself and the person who cleaned away the dogs remains, who can prove that the dog died at all? There are a lot of blogs and websites showing pictures of an emaciated dog, but who can tell where they are from and when?
The artist refuses to say whether the dog survived the show but the director of the Códice Gallery is reported as saying that the animal was fed regularly and was only tied up for 3 hours on one day before it escaped. A probe by the Humane Society revealed that the dog was in a state of starvation when it was captured and escaped after one day of captivity.
Good points well made al, thanks for shedding some more light on this story....I really appreciate it!
I posted this after only reading a handful of other blogs, but was so compelled by it, i decided to blog it...i admit i didnt do any digging around and took what i had read at face value...which is why i am glad by your post...two sides of every story and all.
i will still leave this post standing so that your points can be read...again cheers al!
Post a Comment