If a crane falls on a museum is it art?

In light of the news article Construction crane falls on museum, everyone assumes it's a new sculpture, it made me wonder (yet again) about the meaning of art. I, like many people have experienced art in the most abstract of forms.

Illustrated Jaguar sculpture © Patricia Pinsk

Have we become so accustomed to seeing art that is more about the thesis than the art? One reader of this article, Andy Dickens, summed it up nicely:

“I bet there were still a lot of art snobs describing how the fallen crane meant 'the juxtaposition of construction and destruction and how this parallels chaos and redemption in modern man' or some other such bollox.”

I can see his point. In the city of Vancouver the Jaguar sculpture, by John Henry, was in Stanley Park. It could have been mistaken for a construction site gone sideways. And there are plenty of other artists around the world that create art that is sadly misunderstood.

Take for example Sala Murats’s art, as noted in: Cleaner throws out 'rubbish' Sala Murat artwork.

Apparently the cookie crumbs and cardboard scraps didn’t fit her expectations of what is art. Neither did Damien Hirst’s installation of beer bottles, coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays. The cleaning crew at London's Eyestorm Gallery was also overzealous in their cleaning of the gallery, and tossed his work.

But let’s not think illustrators are not guilty of creating artwork that is questionable too. Felix Pestemer is known for his illustrations of trash and compost. His illustrations are beautifully presented in gilded frames. Is it the frame, the artist statement, or the gallery presentation of the illustrations themselves that elevate these works from being thought of as Trash, to that of Art?

Perhaps it’s the combination of A, B, C and all of the above. Perhaps it’s all about the framing of the subject matter, and controlling the eye of the beholder. Or, maybe it’s the isolation, intent and presentation of the art outside the normal context that stops us in our tracks.

Or in art-speak, it’s the theoretical pontification about the dichotomy and juxtaposition of our banal environment with that of the neo-neo, post-dada, post-modernist world. So yes, when a cookie, paper scrap or construction crane are exhibited in the right context – it's Art. Otherwise, to quote an artist friend of mine, “it’s just crap”.

This week's illustration is a combination of a photograph I took of the Jaguar sculpture, and some added digital figures.

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