Are You A Murderer? Nope, Just An Artist...

Today I received an email from a friend urging me to sign a petition against something or other. Usually I disregard these emails, as I'm no fan of online petitions. I've always found they do absolutely nothing. They don't change anything, and they certainly don't make a difference in the world. However, this friend had a picture of a very malnourished dog tied to a rope in the email, and so I checked out what this petition was for. I was amazed, shocked, horrified, and so pissed off I was seeing red for quite some time. I did a quick Google search on the "artist" in question and some interesting as well as contradictory things appeared. I read about him in Wikipedia, and the article claims that the Humane Society of the United States were told that the dog escaped his captivity after one day. There are of course conflicting stories and accounts of this. And the "artist" in question claims that this just shows the hypocrisy of people. I agree with him on that point, but it ends there, and I would still love a chance to be alone with him for about 15 minutes. I hate feeling violent towards other people. I haven't been in a fight since I was 21 years old and living in the Riverside District of Minneapolis, but that being said I would love to give this "artist" a curb-smile.

Apparently this guy wanted to make a point about all the strays and starving dogs in Costa Rica. Wow. Thank you pal, by the torture of another living thing, you've certainly opened my eyes. I know that that whole area is heavily plagued with economic hardships, and hunger, as well as a myriad of other ills. And you've certainly proved it by not doing anything to combat or help fix the problem, but by committing an obscene act of torture and justifying it with the label of "art". You sure changed the world. Thank you. Depending on what you read on the internet there are various accounts of what happened to the dog in question. Some sites say the "artist" admitted that the dog died, and others say that the dog escaped its captivity. Frankly in my humble opinion, it matters fuck all whether the dog died in the exhibition, or escaped and died of malnutrition. The fact remains that an innocent dog who probably had a horrible existence to begin with was subjected to being tied and starved for hours on end. And nobody did a damn thing.

Which leads me to my next righteous indignation. The spectators. Anybody who actually attended this opening, watched casually with their carefully constructed stone-faced expressions are absolutely no better than the "man" who created this exhibit. The people who stood idly by and watched something suffer without doing anything are just as culpable in the whole scheme of things, and I hope every last one of them lost a lot of sleep over it. I haven't been able to determine whether or not this was a free exhibit, or whether these people actually paid something for the honor and privilige of being part of this "high art". I know I'm being naive on many levels here, and I am not the most educated guy on the planet, but I still can't fathom the fact that there are people who could actually stand idly by and voluntarily watch the suffering of an innocent person/animal or what have you and do nothing about it. I can't believe not ONE person called the R.S.P.C.A., or whatever Costa Rican equivalent they have. I can't believe not ONE person attempted to free the animal. The people who supported this person are even more guilty than the person who cultivated it and tried to label it "art" in the first place.

If the spectators of this horror-show are guilty, my true rage and anger goes towards the gallery who put this exhibition on. I truly hope and pray to any deity that may be out there that the gallery will be subsequently fire-bomed and burnt to a crisp someday. The gallery owner again says that the dog escaped his captivity after one day, but guess what? It doesn't matter whether the dog escaped after one day, or one hour. The fact remains that this person, or board of directors (I'm not sure how the gallery is run) decided to put up and host this exhibition. They are truly the culprits in this whole fiasco. What a sad state of affairs.

I have another idea for a piece of "art"...

How about we leave a baby on the floor without any food/water or changing for 10 hours, to bring attention to the fact that there are starving children in the world. We can all file into the gallery, nod our heads and tune out the ear-splitting cries that are emitting from the child, as we appreciate that someone is finally doing something about the hunger problems that are happening throughout the world.

Maybe this one:

We can find an anorexic woman, and chain her to the floor surrounded by mirrors and steaks, which will bring attention to the fact that women are suffering from image problems, and that anorexia is a terrible thing. Oh, but this probably wouldn't work as there wouldn't be a person alive who would agree to such a travesty. This needs to be done with something that can't say no.

I'm not trying to say that all art is crap (modern art or paintings, or anything besides music isn't exactly my cup of tea), but how do people get off attempting to do something like this? And what goes through the minds of people who actually try to defend it, and put it on display? I guess I'm not enough of an intellectual to debate the merits of art or what even makes art art, but I do know what torture and unnecessary cruelty is, and there's nothing artistic about that.

I truly hope that this turns out to be some sort of urban legend, and that I've been completely hoodwinked but there's been enough sources to back it up. There's enough misery and destitution in the world and it doesn't take some worthless "artist" to show us what everybody already knows. This makes me hope that he is revisited ten-fold on his karma one day. I can't believe he can even look at himself in the mirror, much less take pride in his "art".