The “Public” Does Not Have Values
Only individuals have values and those values are not universal, nor should they be.
Seattle’s week-old Olympic Sculpture Park is a lesson in what happens when private ownership is transferred to the “public.”
“Vito” apparently liked Seattle’s new Olympic Sculpture Park so much he signed his name to it.
As did “Cameron.” “Andy.” “Cheb.” And “Mom.” Someone else looked upon the 8.5-acre waterfront expanse, with its 18 sculptures, and felt moved to let us know that “David is a gay.”
These writings, alongside hearts, stars and smiley faces, have been doodled onto the rusted surface of just one artwork — Richard Serra’s “Wake” — in the park’s first week.
[…]
The art has not been permanently damaged, curators say. People wrote on Serra’s 14-foot-high steel slabs mostly by pushing their fingers into the corroded surface. It left marks that are faintly visible despite repeated power-washings, but curators say they can be buffed out.
Still, I saw someone had used a rock to lightly carve “DAD” into the steel of “Wake,” which is a $5 million sculpture.
I wrote before about how tax laws distort the value of art. (Tax laws distort the value of everything.)
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That is a reality that the promoters of “public art” do not seem to understand.
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