Originally Posted by
shipwreck
Just out of curiosity, is your citys new statue art? I have talked with some who maintain it is. Some who think it isn't. And a few who just got all sputtery and refused to or became unable to talk. But the subject is a cultural fixture. I got a lot out of Dewey, But taking something out of something involves what you take into it. I see a brick wall and I see art. Not the art of bricklaying, but the art of human hand, and patina. And if the right person where to take a peice of that wall and put it in a gallery in NY, with the right conceptual BS most of those 1000 critics would buy it hook line and S.
Personally, while I find it garish and cheap, I'd call it pop art. Poorly executed pop art, but art nonetheless. And yes, anything can become art, especially with the help of those 1000 critics.
BTW, way back in design school, at Thanksgiving, the local professional design society held a contest for us students. We were to design the "essense of a turkey". I built a brick wall, about 3' x 3'. I then cut out a silouette of a turkey, placed it against the wall and spray painted black around the perimeter of the silouette. I removed the silouette. I took the wall to the contest and said my turkey was in an atomic blast and all that was left was its essense. I won first prize, a $150 gift certificate at the local art supply store. I bet if I checked, I still have a slide (yes, I'm that old) of that piece.