So I just heard about the controversy regarding Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas Habacuc. It has been alleged that he rounded up a stray dog and then chained it without food or water until it eventually died. Apparently this dog was already starving and the artist's point was to highlight the plight of all the stray starving dogs running rampant. The exhibit was in August 2007 in Nicaragua.
There's an online petition going around to prevent this artist from exhibiting his work in a multinational exhibit this year.
There is some question as to whether or not this dog actually died. Some sites say he only chained the dog for a day. Others say he kept it chained until it died. Snopes classifies the story as undetermined. PETA says they aren't sure yet if this is a publicity stunt or not. The Guardian said it appears he only had it for a day. Huffington Post had a psychiatrist discuss the sadistic nature of this art. I've read some posts say Americans should keep their noses out of it and are exhibiting our colonialism by trying to petition this artist. Others argue it is art to highlight society. Others are ready to tie this artist up and starve him to death.
There are many conflicting stories and some inconsistencies. There is a statement supposedly from the artist that sounds reasonable but is also a smoking gun. It makes my spidey sense tingle. In it, it says the artist is 50 years old. Other sites I researched show this artist in his 30s. So I'm thinking this statement is a fake. So since I don't know if this story is valid or not, I'm not signing the petition.
I do think one avenue of art is to magnify life. And what's so beautiful about art is that while one piece of art may not 'speak to me', it may to another. However, I don't think art should purposefully be at the expense of a living creature. Yes, this dog may have been doomed to starve to death anyway. But it may also have been taken in by someone. And to torture a living creature in the name of art doesn't make sense to me. Would we showcase a starving child to show the plight of starving children around the world? While I think it is noble of an artist to try to make us think about these dogs, it should be done differently.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Costa Rican Artist's Starving Dog Exhibit
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4 comments:
"Would we showcase a starving child to show the plight of starving children around the world? "
I wouldn't, but the Christian Children's Fund, UNICEF and others do it all the time..."for 13 cents a day, we'll send you the picture of a the child you'll be helping..."
It sounds like a publicity stunt to me...a la Aliza Shvartz. Her name kinda suggests 'hoax'...
Do you remember the Movie Wall Street..Gord Gecko tells Bud Fox;
"you need to remember one thing about W.A.S.P.S.,
they LOVE animals,
can't stand people!"
I would need to know for certain that he actually did mistreat a dog..that's how cannibal nutjob Jeffrey Dahmer started out, torturing cats..
actually a lot of serial killers start out that way.
If he did do it then he should be chained to a wall without food and water.
In my most recent National Geographic on China, there is a photo of small crocodiles wandering around a restaurant with their jaws taped shut..customers choose the one that they want to eat!
Don't get me started on Oriental cuisine and the treatment of animals in other parts of the world..I have been sufficiently 'Westernized' to fell comfortable with saving the animals and allowing the people to perish...
and I'm not even a real W.A.S.P.!?
I don't know...even if its a publicity stunt/hoax, it has still had an effect in terms of conscious raising, has it not? I guess I could sider that aspect of it art.
There's some who would venture that "art" is that which "you get away with". For instance, as a commercial art piece we had the Pet Rock. Harmless most would say until people started having very real attachments to their pet rock and experienced actual trauma when their pet rock died.
How do we assess the Texas artist who some years ago gathered media folk in his atelier and proceeded to stand in front of a large blank canvass rendering a performance piece by using a .45 to shoot himself in the shoulder, causing a splatter of blood and flesh all over the canvass....is that art?
I think we can draw the line, as it were, at using other living beings who's consent is impossible to obtain regarding an artist abusing them as part of his work. Its really just another form of rape.
Its really sad how violence gets and maintains our attention, even when witnessed through the glass of the TV tube or the windows of our "armored" car.
I guess it fits into the concept that life is most fertile where there is the most death. Picture: a swamp as still life.
Allan - hmm that's an interesting point Allan. My train of thought goes to profiteering vs any benefit to the recipient but then journalism, etc also come into play. I'll have to think about it. Hey thanx for giving me food for thought!
Donn - I know what you mean! When I came across the chinese fur farm video (if you click on my animals link you'll see the post) I also came across dog eating. I am half korean. I love many korean dishes, but unfortunately they do eat dog as well which I never would/could do. The pics disturb the hell out of me. But I do eat meat. Maybe I need to have a pet cow and pig and chicken so I will stop eating meat. Though bacon is the food of the gods. =/ Yes, in China, there are many animals you buy live, like snakes, and have them prepare it for you. I'm too squeamish, though I will eat a crab or fish I just caught. I'm a hypocrite.
Cul - I think the key has to be unto others vs self as the differentiator. If someone wants to shoot themselves for art, so be it. (Did any of his pieces sell do you know?) But inflicting it on animals or anyone where consent can not be confirmed or could be coerced is not a good place. I so agree with your last two paragraphs. But given all our limitations, I guess I can only hope that people try to get through life helping and not hurting as much as possible.
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