Ars Gratia Artificis

There are two things I hate about art world, being knowingly offensive for its shock value “emotional expression” and unchecked pretension. This dickhead has both strikes against him :

A performance artist wearing a business suit and safety harnesses jumped repeatedly from a museum roof to create photographs that recall scenes from the World Trade Center attack, but his spectacle was scorned by some onlookers and victims’ relatives.
[. . .]
Skarbakka, 34, said he started thinking about falling after watching on television as workers jumped to their deaths from the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was so distraught, I needed some way to find an artistic response,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. Now, he says he sees falling as a metaphor for life.

“Mentally, physically and emotionally, from day to day, we fall. Even walking is falling: You take a step, fall and catch yourself,” he said.

Duuuude…he should have waited until autumn, which is also called the fall, and done it while leaves are falling. Since he’s got the “fall” gimmick pretty much covered, my “artistic response” to 9/11 will be to call 911 on September 11th nine-hundred and eleven times in a row and read passages from the Koran until the operator hangs up. Then I’ll have those calls burned to 911 CDs, have th CDs hung on a gallery where I’ll have an opening so that all of my friends and acquaintances have a chance to tell me how wonderful I am.

The crowd response to this trite and meaningless display was also amusing :

His antics on Tuesday attracted a crowd of gawkers, who became sidewalk critics.

“It was fabulous,” said Darlene Schuff, 56. “I just wanted to be a part of it. It’s a happening.”

Others in the crowd said Skarbakka’s effort was too staged to have meaning.
[. . .]
“What kind of a sick individual is he? Tell him to go jump off the Empire State Building and see how it feels,” Rosemarie Giallombardo, whose son Paul Salvio died in the terrorist attack, told the (New York) Daily News. “He’s an artist? Go paint a bowl of fruit or something.”

“It’s a happening”? Are you kidding me? Fifty bucks says that woman was somehow affiliated with the art/stunt. There’s no way some stranger casually walking down the street would say something that obnoxious.


posted by greg on June 16, 2005 @ 7:25 pm

4 comments

  1. I’m guessing a lot of victims’ families wish their loved ones had been wearing safety harnesses, too.

    What an asshole.

    Comment by jwer — June 17, 2005 @ 1:19 pm

  2. Everyone is so quick to bash this guy, but no one reads his stuff to find out what he’s doing. You are jumping to media-fed conclusions. Shame on you.

    Once again finding you on the right side of the bed. Make up your mind.

    Comment by Jason — June 17, 2005 @ 2:10 pm

  3. He’s also a plagiarizer:

    Walking and Falling
    By Laurie Anderson (1982)

    “I wanted you.
    And I was looking for you.
    But I couldn’t find you. I wanted you.
    And I was looking for you all day.
    But I couldn’t find you. I couldn’t find you.
    You’re walking. And you don’t always realize it, but you’re always falling.
    With each step you fall forward slightly.
    And then catch yourself from falling.
    Over and over, you’re falling.
    And then catching yourself from falling.
    And this is how you can be walking and falling at the same time.”

    Comment by Uncle Mike — June 17, 2005 @ 4:27 pm

  4. Taking Jason’s advice, I’ve done a little additional research.The artist claims to have been misquoted on his site, but here’s what the Chicago Sun Times said in a followup story :

    Skarbakka has described his art form as “an artistic response” to the Sept. 11 attacks, but he said from New York it is not an imitation of the World Trade Center jumpers. Other falling photos in his portfolio feature nature scenes, he said. The MCA shots, along with the businessman’s suit he wore, produced an impression he did not intend, he said.

    Skarbakka said watching the 9/11 images “was profound.” Viewing the images on TV that day, “it was like I was slipping and I couldn’t catch myself. Like many people, I felt a loss of control,” the artist said. His art is intended to reflect that loss of control, not mimic the WTC jumpers.

    So it’s not that he’s an insensitive jerk, he’s just a fucking moron who doesn’t understand why people would be offended by an “artistic response” to 9/11 in which a businessman falls off a building. Not much of an improvement.

    By the way, what’s up with all this “right side of the bed” business? Is getting offended by bad art a conservative trait or do you just consider anyone who says something you disagree with to be a liberal traitor? After two and a half years of blogging, I’d think my liberal bona fides would be solid enough by now…

    Comment by greg — June 17, 2005 @ 5:42 pm

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