Look at this outdoor art installation: Work No. 700. From the London museum’s site: “According to the critic Martin Herbert writing about this piece for Art Monthly, ‘There is deep pleasure in this confluence of discipline and forgiveness, the admirable lunge for perfection offset by a recognition that we cannot reach it in real life’.”
Like the recognition that this steel I-beam won’t forgive you for stumping your toe on it. I think this work is better appreciated with a martini or three.
Phil—I followed the link. Hooboy! There must be a special training class for people who write about “The Arts,” because nothing in my vocabulary comes up to scratch.
My late father-in-law was a skilled and splendid welder, and like most welders, he never threw away a scrap of metal. I must say, his junk pile of scrap contained more feeling and emotion than “Work No.700.” I only wish I had photographed it for all the world to see. His breath-taking use of negative space was astonishing!
My husband works for a company that makes rail cars and barges. They have piles and piles of steel in all shapes stacked all over the plant. They must have a confluence or two just waiting to be discovered.
Sue, no doubt they are covered up in art. Wow. I can’t barely imagine it.
I recently read in Reader’s Digest a quote that stated something to the effect that skill without imagination is craftsmanship, which produces many useful items. On the other hand imagination without skill produces modern art.
There was a wall built, in New York I think, that was dubbed “art” by its creator and art world elite. The people, the ignorant peasants they are, hated it because its location completely messed up foot traffic in front of the building where it was located. Furthermore, they thought it was just plain ugly. There were so many complaints it was eventually removed. Unfortunately, I can’t recall any more details than that.
Daniel, when did that happen? Recently?
Okay, you tasked me to find the story. Here it is:
The story I was thinking of happened in the early 80s, and involved a work by Richard Serra, which he called “Tilted Arc.”
Here’s a link to a brief on the controversy: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/tiltedarc_a.html
Among the complaints, from the simple proles who didn’t understand what Serra was doing with his “art,” were “the sculpture interferes with public use of the plaza … [would attract] graffiti, rats, and terrorists who might use it as a blasting wall for bombs.”
In this case, thankfully, reasonable minds prevailed, “On March 15, 1989, during the night, federal workers cut Tilted Arc into three pieces, remove it from Federal Plaza, and cart it off to a scrap-metal yard.”
This case is one more example of taxpayer money wasted to install a piece of junk and then, eight years later, forced to pay for its removal.
Remarkable. Thanks for looking that up, but I didn’t mean to pressure you into it. I love the terrorist comment. If they had installed a fountain, I would if anyone would have complained about foot traffic.
No worries. I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t recall details anyway, so it was good for me to look it up.