Owner throws Artprize entry in a dumpster for being Offensive and having Political Statements - Polidicks

source: [URL]http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/artprize/artist-singh-the-bob-at-odds-over-artprize-entry[/URL] [quote=woodtv.com]GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - [B]An ArtPrize entry at The B.O.B. -- Saddam Hussein hanging inside a cage -- has generated controversy and acrimony between the artist and the venue. [/B] The piece by artist Gurmej Singh -- better known by his alias Artist SinGh -- is called "Captivity." [URL="http://artistsingh.blogspot.com/2012/09/captivity.html"]It is, according to his website, "installation art that will change daily."[/URL] The purpose of the piece, he wrote, "is intended to show different cultures and how they are captive to certain ideas." An email he said he received from The B.O.B. told him, [B]" [I]to remove your artwork immediately and have one day in which to get it out of the parking lot. Your display is very disturbing and in no way acceptable to be displayed at The B.O.B. If it is not removed within one day we will have it removed!"[/I] [/B] [B]However, The B.O.B. owner Greg Gilmore told 24 Hour News 8 he personally threw SinGh's entry into the Dumpster. [/B] "I had some staff come to me and ask me if I knew what was in the cage, and I said, 'No, I had no idea.' And they started describing it to me, and I immediately came down here and removed it," Gilmore told 24 Hour News 8. He said he was angry at what he saw as a betrayal of trust between the downtown Grand Rapids venue and SinGh. "I was infuriated," Gilmore said. "He took advantage of us. And we trusted him after the last several years and the art that he brought, that it would be tasteful, and it was anything but.' Gilmore said he and The B.O.B. did not get what they expected. "We thought it was going to be a bird house that he was painting in on a daily basis," said Gilmore. "And it was a political statement. Highly inappropriate daily political statement." Some might say it's the venue's responsibility to work with the artists and know what they're going to get. "It's ArtPrize. You never know what you're going to get until it shows up. The artists change things. They manipulate things, and they're working on it up until today. And even some of these are works in progress, so they won't be finished for another week," said Gilmore. "Quite often, ArtPrize is a surprise in many respects. Mostly good, almost always good, but not in this case." [/quote] [IMG]http://media2.woodtv.com//photo/2012/09/19/artprize-singh-hussein-0919_20120919152209_640_480.JPG[/IMG] The source is two pages as well as a video. Basically; A popular restaurant owner that was hosting one of the major venues at an Art festival told the guy to remove his art because political statements in art are bad, when the guy got there to pick it up the owner had already thrown it in the trash. :v:

omg art making a statement and not just being a pretty picture how horrible

It seems like the guy tricked the restaurant owner into letting that go up though. I don't think he would have let it be shown if he knew it would be political/graphic. He said that he thought the guy was bringing in a birdhouse.

[QUOTE=Bobie;37766599]omg art making a statement and not just being a pretty picture how horrible[/QUOTE] No doubt some people will be offended by it, and regardless of his views on it, the owner will doubtlessly want to keep from offending his customers in the interest of keeping a good image of his restaurant. Throwing it out was a bit over the top, but I can see why he would be frustrated

Yeah I really doubt the artist told the owner that there was going to be a picture of saddam hussein being hung What kind of statement is that anyway, I can't think of any way to interpret that as meaningful or in any way interesting - "Here is Saddam Hussein, he is being hung" which is essentially what happened to him there's nothing really behind it

[QUOTE=killerteacup;37766670]Yeah I really doubt the artist told the owner that there was going to be a picture of saddam hussein being hung What kind of statement is that anyway, I can't think of any way to interpret that as meaningful or in any way interesting - "Here is Saddam Hussein, he is being hung" which is essentially what happened to him there's nothing really behind it[/QUOTE] maybe someone should be checking what the art pieces are before putting them up and destroying someone elses property because they're incapable of moderating an art venue

[QUOTE=killerteacup;37766670]Yeah I really doubt the artist told the owner that there was going to be a picture of saddam hussein being hung What kind of statement is that anyway, I can't think of any way to interpret that as meaningful or in any way interesting - "Here is Saddam Hussein, he is being hung" which is essentially what happened to him there's nothing really behind it[/QUOTE] even if there was no meaning behind it (you didn't even read the first 3 lines of the article), what the hell does it matter? the artist adhered to the rules. the owner of the place that held the event threw somebody's [I]work[/I] out before even considering it with the artist (doing it the civil way you know, actually talking to him?) and completely shat on the idea and concept of an art prize. so what if it's distasteful, art is a direct representation of the thoughts and feelings of the artist. of course there's going to be shit that's distasteful. there's much more 'distasteful' stuff out in galleries than this i assure you

I went down there today and they still have the cage sitting there. I think I heard about another artist who had their artwork at the same venue who burned theirs in protest or something to that effect. I can completely understand him not wanting it, on his property, but the fact that he didn't ask what he was putting up and then tearing it down and throwing it in a dumpster is just completely mad.

At least he wasn't shitting on anything.

I remember one year they had one guy wanting to make some kind of stunt jump off the same restaurant and the owners told him he couldn't do it because of insurance reasons.

I imagine a Pinata made out of that would be popular.

[QUOTE=Keegs;37766872]I went down there today and they still have the cage sitting there. I think I heard about another artist who had their artwork at the same venue who burned theirs in protest or something to that effect. I can completely understand him not wanting it, on his property, but the fact that he didn't ask what he was putting up and then tearing it down and throwing it in a dumpster is just completely mad.[/QUOTE] "It's ArtPrize. You never know what you're going to get until it shows up. The artists change things. They manipulate things, and they're working on it up until today. And even some of these are works in progress, so they won't be finished for another week," said Gilmore. "Quite often, ArtPrize is a surprise in many respects. Mostly good, almost always good, but not in this case." Throwing it away was a bit much though.

The artist could change things yes, but he still never asked the artist. Art Prize is serious business around here, last year we got around 300,000 people (in a town of 190,000) [img]http://blog.art21.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/artprize-crowd.500.jpg[/img]