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| "To begin with, 'I'll paint the town red'." Grant E. Hamilton, The Judge vol. 7, 31 January 1885. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
For those of you who missed my last blog on Koons, he is what is called a "conceptual" artist. That is, he conceives of ordinary things we could buy in stores for a few dollars as "art" and becomes rich and famous by putting them in boxes, attaching lights to them, or, if he is really daring, both. "Performance artists" like Kantor, on the other hand, often perform things called "crimes" when people who didn't go to art school do them.
Art school didn't help Kantor, though, as he was immediately removed by museum security after his "performance," and taken to a nearby hospital for mental evaluation. I thought it was a bit ironic that the museum forcibly removed Kantor. After all, why would people who laud one person for displaying appliances other people made as his "art" condemn another person for performing his "art" on those same appliances? Really, if you think about it, Kantor was just giving Koons’ vacuum exhibit a chance to "perform" the art of cleaning.
It's kind of like when people graffiti Banksy's art. Should they be arrested or demand a percentage of sales? In the end, though, I think it's good that Kantor was apprehended. Not so good is that he was released from the hospital shortly thereafter. I mean, what if he decides to become a street performer?
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