so i received this bulletin on my myspace today, and i felt it was worthy of sharing, as it seems to be controversial. it is in regards to an upcoming government commissioned exhibit in Spain, that is getting a lot of flak because it involves blatant animal cruelty. youtube clip of previous installation is available.

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“I have just read and signed the online petition:

“Boycott to the presence of Guillermo Vargas “Habacuc” at the Bienal
Centroamericana Honduras 2008″

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.
com, the free online petition
service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ea6gk/

This man Vargas, claims to be an artist. Last year he chained a dog up inside an art gallery, and starved it to death, giving it no food or water, claiming it was art, while the public watched it die. The Spanish government now want him to do this again, with another dog.

Please sign this if you are against this cruelty. This being called art is an offence to all artists.”

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can i be the wrench in the gears and say, that while i cannot in good conscience say that vargas’ adventures in dogicide is something i approve of at all, you have to think about art history for a second. how many times in history has there been an artist that has stirred extreme controversy amongst the local population at the time? biggest example i can think of is Manet’s Olympia.

art history has been privvied to some pretty fucked up shit, contextually, as far back as it goes. i am not trying to sabotage the petition, although i am telling you right now that i am not signing it. obviously it’s fucked up, but to me, i wouldnt go so far as to call it an “offense to all artists”.

if anything, Vargas is successfully creating controversy, which is almost always inevitably coattailed with debate, forum, and expression of individual opinion… which is a large part of what art is to begin with.

**my two cents.**

April 14th, 2008 | art, controversy, life, misc., other | 2 comments