art for art's sake...who is art anyway?

this is not art

t

the election has come and gone, thus, i think it's time to reflect on our neighbours to the south (in our case here in the yukon, to the west). On a recent westerly jaunt to skagway, the alaskan epicentre of cruiseship culture we too, along with the throngs of "cruisewear clad" americonians, ventured into one of the many cardboard cutter giftshipshops in town. ahh, americana incorporated.

amidst the carefully mechanically reproduced soapstone walrus carvings, the gold nugget-floating-in-a-water-filled-ballpoint pens, the ulu knives, the stuffed porcelain eskimo dolls with faux rabbit fur trim and authentic hair braiding, the gold nugget paper weights, and alaskonian shoehorns, the I heart alaska t-shirts and the other trinkets was a sculpture entitled "letters from home" (see photo - i snapped this photo under constant fear that i was going to be forcibly detained by giftshipshop security personnel and interrogated about my treasonous activities in aback room under a bare 40 watt lightbulb. I was able to snap the photo and escape undetected)the sculpture, complete with biography of the artiste, is a three foot high 'hommage to the american GI in iraq. complete with M-16 assault rifle slung over his shoulder, the sculpture depicts a soldier decked out in his camouflage reading a letter written from his wife back home in anytown ohio. the text of the letter is even inscribed on the actual "letter" the soldier is reading. you can read it over his shoulder. the text is also enlarged for your reading convenience in an artistically framed print hung on the wall behind the sculpture.

If you want to purchase this fine work of art, you'll need to part with almost $400 rubbles.

tacky tribute to american troops overseas...or full-fledged "hang 'em high" militaristic ego stroking...or both? thankfully the sculpture depicting american troops torturing prisoners of war in abu ghraib prison wasn't on display. at least they had the taste to keep that one in the back.

would it strike you as odd if you were invited over to someone's house for a dinner party and saw this thing in their front entrance?

is it possible to minimize the suffering of those caught in the middle of this conflict more than having this monstrosity on display in a giftshop where they sell carefully mechanically reproduced soapstone walrus carvings, gold nugget-floating-in-a-water-filled-ballpoint pens, ulu knives, stuffed porcelain eskimo dolls with faux rabbit trim and authentic hair braiding, gold nugget paper weights, alaskonian shoehorns, and "i heart alaska t-shirts"???

bush vs. kerry, would there really be any difference had kerry won?