To the Editor,

Does anyone remember the National Endowment for the Arts uproar in the 1980s? “Artist” Andres Serrano took money from the National Endowment for the Arts — taxpayer funds — urinated into a small jar, suspended a plastic crucifix inside, and sealed it.

Behold! Art!

No talent required. No effort.

Catholics were rightly offended, as were most common sensical Americans. The questions were roundly asked, “Is this art?” and “should we be paying for this?”

As an addendum to my January 11th letter, titled “What is Art?,” which detailed the ridiculous concept of a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for over $6 million, and questioning the entire concept of “modern art,” comes this recent nugget:

Italian “artist” Salvatore Garau has “created” a “piece” he calls “I Am.”

The “work” is invisible.

That’s right; it has no physical form at all, but rather, as one article marveled, is “created of energy.” The “artwork” is described by the “artist” as being made of “air and spirit, challenging traditional notions of art, by existing only in the imagination.”

So, this “art” is, wholly and literally, subjective to the viewer, because it’s in your imagination.

It doesn’t actually exist, yet sold for the equivalent of $18,300. The buyer was presented, ironically and, perhaps, cynically, with a certificate of authenticity. Somebody actually paid money to own, and presumably display…nothing.

When they realized they could sell a banana, I suppose this was a natural progression.

Someone once said, “art isn’t about what it is, art is about how it makes you feel.”

No.

Art should be about what it is; that’s how we assess the talent, or lack thereof, of the artist. Does it recognizably resemble something we can reference, or is it just a meaningless shape, or blob of colors a child could render, like the “scribble art” pictures we did in Kindergarten? You’d just randomly scribble on a piece paper, then color in the divided sections of the scribbles. It was pretty, and it looked nice on the fridge, but it wasn’t “art.” It was meaningless.

However, things like that sell, today, for millions.

How does this make me feel? Outraged.

“Modern art,” as my letter noted, is now being declared “too abstract for its own good.”

Put “I Am” in that column.

“Modern art” insults the intelligence, ethics, and integrity of any normal, average person. If you dare question it though, you’re dismissed by conceited, “artsy” dupes as an uncultured, lowbrow philistine who “just doesn’t get it.” Myself, I’m fine with that.

The “art world” is an embarrassing farce no longer to be taken seriously. The artistic talent displayed in the horse made of machine parts downtown by the “Welcome to Weirton” sign puts that of signore Garau, and of most “modern” artists, to shame. You can tell what it is. It’s a horse. No need to “interpret” or “imagine” it. The metalworks on display in New Cumberland…again, “I Am” pales in comparison.

Well, it would, if it actually existed.

To me, this is what happens, when you tell kids it’s okay to color outside the lines.

Rob Denham

Weirton