YES, It’s true. Before we begin, a little background is needed. In 1508, Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius to paint the ceiling and other areas of the Sistine Chapel. All of the entire world has stood in awe of the results for over 600 years. Yet, had Michelangelo or the Pope, or both determined that the world could not view these works or reproductions of them, then as sole owners or representative of owners of these works on private property, they had every right to do so. But, as men, they were giants and much too big for such trivialities.
Today, in Chicago, artwork is on display in a public area, bought and paid for by citizens of Chicago by means of confiscatory taxes. Make no mistake about it. This artwork is NOT of the caliber of the works of Michelangelo, and is in fact more suitable for display in a salvage yard, but that is the nature of what we call modern art, in many cases an oxymoron.
Art throughout history has often become important not because it IS important, but because the artist had a wealthy benefactor who promoted a protégé far beyond the level that their talents would have otherwise carried them. So, for many the road to success is nothing more than the road of dumb luck. These are artists who should count their blessings on a daily basis for not being burdened in vocation with the drudgery and quiet desperation of which so many suffer
Now, along comes one Anish Kapoor, the sculptor of a piece called “Cloud Gate” which is akin to a chrome coffee bean turned rounded end up and which is set dead center in Chicago’s Millineum Square, a renovated urban setting which stuck the taxpayers to the tune of $250,000,000 (yes, million!). And that part is fine, I guess. It is cute. What is NOT cute is that the artist, or the city, or BOTH have determined there is nothing wrong with copyrighting the “view” mind you of said sculpture. And, I thought Mussolini was dead. ***@@#$!$!
http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/636.php
So, photographer/journalist and I assume citizen of Chicago, Warren Wimmer, was approached by security as he was setting up his tripod, and informed he would need to buy a permit to proceed. WHAT! Permit? What permit? HE DON’T NEED NO STINKING PERMIT. HE’s AN AMERICAN. THEY NEED TO TAKE THEIR PERMIT, SET IT ON FIRE, AND STICK IT WHERE THE SUN DON’T EVER SHINE! And, the good citizens of Chicago should all head down to millennium Park every Saturday morning at 10:00 with their cameras of every make and kind and snap away until the policing authorities of Chicago are sent into a donut eating frenzy.
First, Mussolini made the trains run on time. Then he copyrighted air and water, then he copyrighted the “view”. Then he was pumped full of holes and erected in the town square…where anyone who wanted to took his picture!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Deer Sir,
I hav e consistanly think all artist are waste of air. Unless they make movie or something useful. But a scupcher of a coffee bean. Ain't that something? By a non American no less. Hey I hav a scupcher of a peanutty mud snake I would sell them for one millun dollar, and it also has a real artistic smell to it and I am a real American, unlike Maharesh Yogi there. Oh sure keep puttin down Mussolini. He was misunderstand. Much like Hugo Chavez. Is Chavez Mexican for Goats?
In my artistic opinion the bean symbolizes much gas, aka flatulence. I think we can all agree that every mammal passes gas. I think this is what the artist was trying to say to the city of Chicago and laughing all the way to the bank. Gas is okay, it's a natural occurrence. We should embrace tooting.
As simple Americans we love shiny objects and that beautiful bean sure is shiny. And we love gas. I hope the winds of Chicago do not blow the bean gas my way. pew-you Chicago.
I am not even sure the bean is a coffee bean. It could have been any bean at all. What do you have against coffee anyway? All beans should be revered.
I think I am in love!
What kind of half-baked blog is this? The good people of Chicago are rightfully proud of the city's many displays of the arts and the many venues in which they are presented. Readers of this irresponsible blog must surely understand there is no journalistic integrity or even a reasonable facsimile of a thought process as they read these lines. I regret having wasted the time to navigate through these volumes of blogs in search of something truly applicable to the Chicagoland area, as I have found nothing more than uninformed rants, baseless opinion, and re-shaped "facts" having no relationship to truth. Sir, I wholeheartedly condemn your blog.
Was in Chicago last year, snapped, well, I should say clicked, dozens of pitures of the glistening bean. Some with me in them, some with others in them, some of the bean alone. No one cared, no one said a word. What's up????? I might add, good thing there was a Johhny-On-The-Spot close by...wheh!!!
Post a Comment