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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2002-08-28, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2002. PAGE 5. Other Views But is it what you'd call art? Afew years ago, Harper's Magazine published an essay called The Painted Word, by the American novelist, Tom Wolfe. It was a modest piece of writing - 20 or 30 pages long, tops. It's central premise? That much of what passes for Modern Art was a massive fraud perpetrated on an amazingly gullible public by three or four influential art critics and a compliant art establishment of curators. dealers and other assorted hangers-on. The title of the essay came from Wolfe's observation that more and more modern works of art were appearing in galleries with explanations of their significance printed beside them, so that viewers could understand what the works of art were really all about. It was Wolfe's contention that, as the art became more obscure, the written explanations were fated to become larger and larger, eventually eclipsing the works of art themselves. The subtext of Wolfe's message as I read it was: anybody who would pay hundreds of thousands of bucks for an Andy Warhol painting of a Campbell's Soup tin or a Liechtenstein silk screen consisting of a blowup from a True Romances comic book was someone who shouldn't be let out unless they were wearing their mittens on a string. I didn't really think much about Wolfe's essay until I saw the barrage of invective it generated. The letters to the editor section in the next issue of Harper's bulged with fulminating fusillades from art critics, art professors, art gallery owners and other wounded Culturati. They called Wolfe everything from Judas to Homer Simpson. The Art establishment was angry with the Ordinary citizens are discovering they have extraordinary clout and they will be more inclined to use it. The prime example since Premier Ernie Eves came to poWer has been their ability to _prevent his Progressive Conservative government selling outright the Hydro One electricity transmission network, which shocked it as if it touched a live wire. But there have been others. On Hydro One, the Tories totally ignored their opponents, the opposition parties in .the legislature, when they argued the province should not sell the transmission system. But members of two unions went to court and claimed the Tories had no power to sell, because they failed to pass a law giving themselves authority, and the Tories scoffed they were meddling busybodies who had no right even to raise the issue. When the court agreed, with the unionists, Eves could still have pushed through a law and sold outright, but the case aroused such concern among the public he dithered before eventually retreating to say he will sell only a minority interest. His new Tory regime started off looking bumbling, flip-flopping and unsure of itself, not the competent, businesslike group it hoped to appear. It has been deprived of income to balance its books, alienated some investors, weakened its theme of privatizing is good and offended business, which it relies on to finance its electioneering. - The case also turned a light_on the way the Tories ignored the excessive perks given Hydro One's senior officials, whose president billed taxpayers for almost everything but her nail polish, and the Tories will wish the unionists had stuck to their dues-collecting. dapper little guy in the white suit, But they also sounded just the teensiest bit scared. As if some little kid had stood up as the parade went by and said: "Hey, check out the emperor - he's bare-assed". I'd love to be able to say that Tom Wolfe's essay changed the course of Modern Art, but that would be misguided, if not foolhardy. I offer instead a cursory cruise through the back pages of recent Art events. The awarding of the $20,000 Turner Prize for 2001 for instance. It went to Martin Creed, a London artist, for his work entitled "Lights Going On and Off-. The work of art was a vacant room in which the lights go on for five seconds, then go off for five seconds, then go on for...well, you get the picture. Unfortunately, that IS the picture - in its - entirety. But that's okay because Creed's magnum opus narrowly beat out the secondtest entry, which, as the program described it consisted of "a dusty room filled with an array of disparate objects, including a plastic cactus, mirrors and old tabloid newspapers" In reality, Martin Creed had the inside track all the way. He'd already enchanted the Turner Prize judges with another work entitled "A Sheet of A4 Paper Crumpled Into a Ball". Citizens struck again when four single mothers and welfare recipients went to court to object to the Tories' noted spouse-in-the-house law introduced to crack down on welfare abuse. This laid down, single women receiving social assistance are treated as part of a family unit from the moment they live in the same home as an income-earning male, and may lose some or all their benefits. It has led to 10,000 women being cut off welfare and the Tories to boast they cut welfare rolls. But the court ruled it prompts intrusive personal investigation and undermines the dignity of women merely because they receive social assistance and is discrimination forbidden by the Charter of Rights. The court found the law also makes it difficult for women to set up personal relationships and forces them to stay in some that become abusive by . pushing them into financial dependence on men. The province will appeal, but already has acknowledged there is some validity in the challenge by changing its law so a couple can live together for three months before being classed as a spousal unit and be subject to losing benefits. gays also have gone to court over the heads of politicians and obtained a ruling the federal law defining marriage as a union between a But lest you draw the conclusion that the world of Modern Art is disappearing up its own fundament, let me direct your attention to the work of California performance artist Richard Ankrom. His latest masterpiece is on display in downtown Los Angeles where 150,000 viewers file past it every day. Actually, not so much file past as drive past. Ankrom's work of art is on display over the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. What Richard Ankrom did - and it took him two years to do it - was re-design a major overhead road sign. To do it, Ankrom passed himself off as a government workman, showing up each working day dressed in a regulation hard hat and safety vest, his ladder under his arm. The modifications, done to exact Federal Highway Administration standards; helped motorists navigate a convoluted highway interchange. And the reviews? Raves all around. Traffic snarls, along with the attendant road rage, have dropped dramatically at the intersection. "The experts are saying that Ankrom did a fantastic job," says a spokesman for the California Transportation Department. "It's so professional they thought it was an internal job." In fact, the California authorities like it so much they plan to leave the modification in place. Ankrom says aside from creating a, Work of art, helping out . motorists "was the whole point". Gee. A modern work of art that actually advances the human condition. How long since we've seen something like that? man and woman is discriminatory and must be changed to allow same-sex marriages and the Ontario law registering marriage must conform. Eves, who is trying to appear open-minded and innovative, said he has no objection. But Tory MPPs who have fought gay rights through their political lives feel they are powerless. In yet another case, former welfare recipients cut off benefits for life for defrauding the system, have launched a court challenge arguing this is cruel and unusual punishment and violates the Bill of Rights. They mostly failed to declare small income from sources such as workers' compensation and point out others who commit more serious offences against society are not given such drastic sentences. They already have won part of their case, because the court ruled the province cannot recover the amounts they obtained fraudulently by deducting them from meagre welfare benefits due their spouses and children, which it sees as punishing the innocent. When citizens have such successes stopping government, it will encourage others to seek them and the Tories have to be concerned still more of their key policies will go down the drain. Final Thought If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. — Cyr! Gustave Jung Bonnie Gropp The short of it A stranger danger /t would probably have been about I 9V. A blissful summer day in the country. To two bored l0-year-olds, all pre-pubescent restlessness and childhood verve, the hours were long, stifling, claustrophobic. "1 know," 1 suggested to' my cousin. "Let's hike into town. It's not that far." She eagerly agreed; after all, life is so. much more exciting in town; and without so much as a fare thee well, away we went. Well, "not that far" can be a little confusing when you're 10. My cousin and I had both made the trip with our parents on many occasions, by vehicle and it couldn't have taken much more than 15 minutes from house to house. On a steamy, summer day, down a dusty country road, then an even steamier highway, we were soon to realize that by foot. the distance was considerably longer. Thin, when a stranger stopped to offer us a ride, we thought nothing of it and hopped in the back of his pickup. Needless to say our parents were livid, my holiday was over and my cousin was unceremoniously returned to country isolation. I got off lucky. My little adventure even in 1964 could have been tragic. Today. I shudder to think. This is a big scary world. Recently, my husband and I went to an event which was attended by thousands. I was pushing our two-year-old grandson in the stroller and as Papa walked off to check out something, we took advantage of a break to rest in a shady spot. Out of nowhere a young man dropped down beside our little guy and started chatting to him. He asked his age and mentioned a nephew who visited him every weekend. He spoke of the fun they had. Then he asked if I was Mom. Mitchell who calls me Ma said yes, then the man asked where Daddy was. I pointed nut that my husband was right then working his way back to us. "Well, you have a good day, little buddy." the man said before quickly moving into the crowd. The entire interruption in an otherwise perfect afternoon lasted probably no longer than three minutes. But during that time I felt threatened, not for myself but for my grandson. Something seemed very wrong with the approach and particularly with the exit. As a friend noted this may have been a fellow who had a little too much to drink and was feeling overly social. Or it may not have been. Either way. I know I had a firm'grip on that stroller. And my eyes stayed watchful of what was going on, while at the same time I assessed the possibilities. My kids will say I'm overly protective, but I see no harm in assuming the worst can happen, and preparing to do what I can to see that it doesn't. Yet, I couldn't help feeling sad that we must be so wary, so suspicious. I also couldn't help thinking how delicately the message of dealing with strangers must be conveyed to children. Our grandson is a friendly little fellow, and it would be a shame" for that natural ease with people to be removed through fear. Conversely, because he is so comfortable with strangers he must be taught that everyone can't be trusted. Striking that balanCe without depleting his inherent warmth and affection is a daunting prospect. On that sunny summer day almost 40 years ago, it never crossed my mind tlity the stranger could have hurt my cousin and me. What a nice thin. it would he ti we could all he so sure today. Eric Dowd From Queen's Park Ordinary citizens show powers