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| going... going... gone |
It has been my long held conviction that future generations won't give a rat's ass about "art" as defined by 20th/21st century critics and buyers. The museums of the future, if they even exist, will be curating TV Advertisements, Pop-Songs and computer code which is where the real artistry, energy and money has been spent since 1950 so what we find in the galleries and auction houses that sell "contemporary art" is marginal crap produced by the second string (at best) or bench warmers (at worst), but there's a market for it because the incredible amount of wealth that's been created over the past 200 years has produced a lot of empty wall space that needs to be covered with something. There are only so many Caravaggio's and Picasso's in existence so an entire industry needs to be created and maintained to foist the Warhole's and Basquiat's upon the philistine hoard with phat-stacks and multiple homes that need something to hang over the mantel. We're not going to let these bourgeois barbarians get their hands on the good stuff so let's con them into shelling out millions for absolute shit and laugh our way all the way to the Banksy. So when one of these JV team players pulls a prank on the Art World (at Sotheby's no less) I have to tip my hat and thank him for his honesty.
"Shortly after the auctioneer's gavel fell, Girl With Balloon demolished itself. The artwork passed through the bottom of its golden frame, producing a partially shredded canvas. With some of the image hanging down in strips, the 2006 work of spray paint on canvas of a girl reaching for a red, heart-shaped balloon was swiftly carried off."
The timing of this self-destructive act couldn't have been more appropriate, coinciding as it did, with the Brett Kavanaugh insanity unfolding in the US Senate and the final tallying of votes to confirm this formally contemplative, middle-of-the-road, Bush approved jurist. Before the Kavanaugh witch trial he was a thoughtful constitutional conservative who could "reach across the isle" and weigh the arguments of the other side with an open mind and natural eagerness to be liked and respected by his colleagues. This human, all to human, impulse to be accepted and included in the DC social club which includes cocktail receptions, dinner parties, gala events and all the rest of it has been the downfall of many "conservative" SCOTUS justices in the past and the mental virus of "Liberalism" might well have infected Kavanaugh as time passed on Hamburger Hill. It wouldn't have happened all at once and certainly not in his first couple years on the court, but over the years they would have worked on him, subtly and with insidious determination, to see reason and the bigger picture that supports an activist, "living constitution" jurisprudence. His judicial philosophy might well have eroded into a Justice A. Kennedy or even a Justice J.P. Stevens swamp soup of incoherent rulings required to keep the peace and protect the DC established order - all for the good of the people, of course. Well, that ain't gonna happen now.
Before the confirmation process Kavanaugh was a little girl reaching for the red-heart balloon of a SCOTUS seat which he'd been pursuing for decades and living a life, doing a job and making decisions that would ensure his eligibility and fitness for the highest court in the land of the free. Playing the game has probably required countless compromises and significant sacrifice of family time, sporting events and other things Brett would have rather done but didn't because he had his eye on the prize and needed to be the best, most eligible candidate for the court. Which is exactly what he was and it's universally acknowledged that Kavanaugh would have been a top choice for any Republican president weather it be Trump, JEB!, Romney or whoever. That's because there was no sane argument from the Left, Right or Center to reject this good hearted and dedicated public servant from his rightful SCOTUS chair and so the DemocRATS took Kavanaugh, the Senate and the country into a Hieronymus Bosch horror show and pooped that little girl right out their rodent ass.
On Saturday afternoon the final votes were cast and the gavel came hammering down which triggered the shredder and turned that little girl striving for a goal floating just out of reach (Coach K) into sliced ribbons of pulp. What the new Brett Kavanaugh will be like is unknown but my guess is that he'll make Justice Clarance Thomas look like David Souter when it comes to "originalism" and strict interpretations of constitutional principles. What artist will capture the moment and record this transformation for future generations to look back on and contemplate the magnitude of this moment in American history?
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) October 5, 2018
Comments
Oh boohoo for you....