What A Concept

I like art galleries. I can’t even draw decently but I really appreciate artists who can, those creative people who can paint, sculpt, or create pottery. I generally prefer more realistic work rather than abstract but a well done piece which employs symbolism or a different way of looking at life can be worth contemplating.

There’s also a thing called “conceptual art” in which the concept of the artist is more important than the art object itself. I have never seen a piece of conceptual art that I appreciated. It’s just plain weird, to me.

An exhibit by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan has been in Seoul, South Korea since January. Evidently people buy every ticket as soon as they become available. One of the pieces is, and I’m not making this up, a banana duct-taped to a wall.

Recently that particular piece of conceptual art got renewed publicity when an art student ate the banana and called doing so “performance art”. It didn’t ruin the exhibit because they had to periodically replace the banana anyway but now there’s a guard standing close by to prevent more such artistic performances.

I reckon some people think a banana taped to a wall is art, I don’t. A detailed explanation of the concept would not interest or impress me. Copies of the banana installation have sold for $120,000. No, I’m still not kidding.

That some folks view art differently is no surprise. I was once invited to leave a art gallery in Santa Fe when I burst out laughing because the owner told me a monochromatic piece that could be done by anyone with a paint roller was $30,000. Maybe it wasn’t my laughter so much as my statement that I could produce a whole bunch of such art much cheaper in my garage.

But, no matter how silly, no matter how extravagantly priced, such art is, I would never say that artists should be banned from following their muse. People even have the right to pay ridiculous amounts of money for such things. In Nazi Germany, and other totalitarian regimes, art that didn’t conform to the taste of the ruler was banned but we don’t do such things here. People are allowed to express themselves however they want so long as they aren’t harming or threatening someone else.

Voltaire famously said, “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Living in a democracy based on the rule of law means folks have the right to choose what they want to do whether anyone else approves or not. We, each of us, have the right to do what we believe to be in our own best self-interest even if no one else agrees.

Some folks find it highly annoying when they discover they don’t have the right to dictate the behavior of others even though it offends their sensibilities or beliefs. That is a sacred right well worth protecting.