It’s not a vile piece of garbage, it’s art!
The latest in people who aren’t creative enough to make real art, so they get press by being as disgusting as they can:
Yes, those are Barack Obama’s daughters. No, it’s not a photoshop spoof, but an “art” show that tried (unsuccesfully) to open in New York under the name of “The assasination of Hillary Clinton, The assasination of Barack Obama”.
I’m in the unenviable position of having to defend the author of this vile display, which includes a gigantic black male genitalia next to the words “Once you go Barack…” and drawings of nooses on the walls.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the show is hateful, not art but insult, racist and generally reprehensible. That said I don’t think that the police should have shut the thing down (partly because that was the stated intent of the “artist”) because I’m a radical believer in freedom of speech. As long as this wasn’t clear incitement to violence (and I’m not sure it could be, though I have my doubts) then he shouldn’t be shut down. No one should actually go to the “show”, private galleries are certainly entitled to tell him where to stick it and no self-respecting critic should give him the time of day or a line of newspaper, but that MUST be left up to the choice of citizens, not imposed by the government. Free speech must include vile speech, because otherwise the freedom loses all it’s meaning.
You mean civility and art don’t always go together?
I wrote about this already and we hold completely different opinions. You understand the point of the artist? He wanted to show how the media have assassinated the characters of Clinton and Obama. It was meant like that.
If he meant to be obnoxiously offensive he accomplished it. If he meant to create art, he failed miserably. And I agree the police should not have shut it down. Unless the display was actually "disturbing the peace" he has the right to be an obnoxious offensive scum-sucking idiot in public.
Freedom of expression and art are two very different things. Express yourself all you want; but what makes it art is your ability to put the feeling into the viewer’s heart without passing it through any logic filters in his brain. Simply provoking a reaction is not art. Once everyone understands what true art is, we can stop wasting time arguing over what is and is not art. There’s no question about what makes something art. It’s not a frame, an art gallery, an audience, or even a successful promotion by the person calling himself an artist. I can stand next to you and draw or paint something to show you what I see or feel; that makes me an artist–nothing else, just that pure ability. We have to stop using art as a scapegoat for bad behavior.