Say Anything Blog

Call me a rube, but I just don't get art like this.

From The Guardian:

Milan artist's installation sparks outrage - and injury, by Sophie Arie. May 8, 2004.

Maurizio Cattelan, one of Italy's leading modern artists, has a reputation for stirring controversy. But his latest work has surpassed all expectations, offending one man so grievously he ended up in hospital with concussion.
His artistic creation involves three plastic child dummies hanging from nooses in an old oak tree in Milan's busy May 24 square. The life-like bambini appeared unperturbed, their faces calm and angelic, their wide eyes turned to the sky. Traffic jams soon formed at lights below and passersby gathered to stare and argue.

Milan mayor, Gabriele Albertini, attended the inauguration of the work, calling it "a good example of anti-conformist culture".

But by Thursday night one passerby, Franco de Bernardo, 42, had become so angry at the effect it had on his nephew, he returned with a ladder and saw to cut the corpses down.

When he got to bambino No 3, he lost his grip and fell, cracking his head on a railing below and ending up in a pool of blood beneath the dangling child.

Here's some photos of the display:





I'm not sure I even understand the explanation for the art:

The foundation said it planned to relocate the work, which was designed to "show the tension there is in reality".

Cattelan defended his creation. "Childhood, this strange place where traumas happen and you dream incredible dreams, is a place I always return to. The fact is we seem more violence on TV these days than in this work of art," he told La Repubblica.

So he's protesting violence on TV by showing more violence?

I don't really have a big problem with this display, but I'm not sure its something I'd want hanging in my community. Its certainly not something I'd like my daughter to see as we drive by. Perhaps displays like this are better kept to private viewing areas.