The Euro conceptual artists - like the inexplicably popular Christo - crack me up. I like this iceberg guy's concept that since he painted it, the iceberg is his:
- An artist with 780 gallons of red paint, three fire hoses and a 20-member crew at his disposal went to Greenland in search of a blank canvas large enough to accommodate his creative impulse.
The result is a blood-red iceberg now sitting off the country's western coast.
"We all have a need to decorate Mother Nature because it belongs to all us," Danish artist Marco Evaristti said Thursday. "This is my iceberg; it belongs to me."
Just how Greenlanders view his masterpiece isn't clear yet. There was no immediate reaction from authorities, who are generally very protective of their unspoiled environment.
Evaristti and his crew sailed in two ice breakers from the small town of Ilullissat, Greenland, on Wednesday, and zigzagged among icebergs for about 30 minutes before they found the perfect frozen canvas.
Working in minus 9 degree weather, it took about two hours for the 40-year-old artist to paint the exposed tip of the iceberg, a volume of nearly 10,000 square feet.
....The town of 4,000, a tourist destination because of its scenery, sits at the mouth of the Kangia fjord, which is 25 miles long and five miles wide.
The fjord is filled with hundreds of icebergs_ previously all of them white.
Evaristti, who was born in Chile, drew widespread attention - and disdain - when he displayed 10 working blenders filled with goldfish in a Danish gallery in 2000.
He invited guests to turn the devices on and someone did, grinding up a pair of goldfish. [AP]
The iceberg is pretty cool, but how many people will able to see the real thing? How long will it last? What does it mean?
Article comments
1 - Harald
Maybe he's trying to say something about the symbolism of planting a flag, of claiming land you 'discover', about those people who claim to own land on the moon, about finder's fees, about ownership in general? I don't think art is supposed to be obvious. I think you're supposed to come up with your own theories. Plenty of room for that here. I don't think it's important how long it lasts. Art is not considered art because of its longevity. Or how many people see it. Maybe that picture of it is the actual piece of art (more or less like the catalogs Christo makes).
Greenland? Next up; Redland!
2 - Shark
"We need to decorate Mother Nature."
...right after we rape and strangle Her.
Nice.
3 - Eric Olsen
Interesting thoughts, Harald, but is it art if NO ONE sees it? If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it ...
4 - Mark Saleski
now i wanna see Yoko Ono standing on the berg in a flaming red dress...reciting poetry from a scroll proclaiming that this is the blood of the unjustly slaughtered.
and i want the national endowment for the arts to fund it.
and then i'll sit back and enjoy the squeeling.
;-)