BODY ART ...

Just when you think you've seen it all in the world of art ... along comes something unexpected. I won't use the words "bizarre" or "strange" in this case - because I've seen so much stuff passed off as "art" in the last decade that I'm basically so numb I'm not surprised by anything I see now. But this one is a little "unexpected" ...

Bodies: The Exhibition...

Hey, I have an idea - can we just make a resolution right now for the whole human race and just agree to leave dead decomposing bodies out of "art"? And don't tell me that they're not decomposing either. Sure, they're preserved through some high-tech silico rubber encapsulation thingamejobber. But if there's organic matter in there anywhere (and there is) - and it's not being nurished by respiration and blood and nutrient circulation (and it ain't) - then it's, by definition, decomposing - rotting. This is not the kind of thing you want in your dining room folks - nuff said on that.

The article above is clearly slanted in favor of this display, and the authors are falling all over themselves to justify it. They've pointed out here that, by cracky, people are getting educated by this stuff. One woman who viewed the exhibit found proof that "evolution" couldn't be true - the human body is just too darned complicated - it would have taken God to design this thing. Another guy decides to quit smoking because of the smoke damaged lungs in the exhibit. Another person changes their mind on abortion because of the fetus' on display.

Hey, that's great - I'm glad that people are getting educated. I don't have a problem with a medical education exhibit - put all the rotting cadavers in there that you want. But this isn't primarily a medical exhibit. This is being passed off as ART - any medical education it provides is a secondary or tertiary byproduct. The authors of this article completely miss this point. When you spend an entire article writing about an art exhibit - and the only good thing you can say is what an education it is - then what you're saying is that the ART sucks.

(Now I hear some saying out there "Awww, Come on Vercingetorix, this really isn't an art display - it's a medical display." And I might agree with you except the authors of the article above state that it's an ART exhibit in the first paragraph of their article. I'll conceed the issue is a bit "gray" here and the line's a little fuzzy about what exactly this exhibit is.)

And honestly, I don't think this particular exhibit is so bad - my fear is for what comes next. This particular exhibit isn't disrespectful in my opinion - but what of future exhibits?

We know that, as humans, there are always those amongst us who will push the limits. So what's next? What kind of poses are we going to put these corpses in? What kind of positions? How will we dress them? How will we use them in "politically oriented" art?

Maybe the next thing around the corner is a corpse cruicified to a cross?

Maybe a couple of corpses locked in a homosexual (or for that matter - heterosexual) embrace? Corpse erotica? Do you really trust the "artists" out there to use their good judgement and NOT take us there? The BTK killer got off on this kind of stuff - but I really don't think it's good for "prime time" and general public consumption folks. And once you let this cat out of the bag - some sicko "artist" is going to take us there and then use the Bill of Rights and his or her freedom of speech as justification for doing so. And the ACLU will come to his or her defense. Do we really want to play in that sandbox?

Maybe corpses with things stuck in 'em? Goodness knows where and goodness knows what - use your imagination.

Don't say it won't happen - it most certainly will. All anyone needs of proof that I'm right here is to look at the art of the last couple of decades. There's a lot of gross and disgusting stuff out there. And my examples above are "powder-puff" - there are a lot of "artists" out there who possess a much more perverted imagination than I do. They'll do stuff with corpses that you and I can't even imagine now.

And what about "Artist's Rights" - doesn't an artist have a "right" to access the tools of his trade? Don't artists have a right to have a constant and steady stream of corpses that they can create their art with? And where do they get these bodies? And who will these bodies be?

My personal opinion - I was born a non-famous child. I've lived a non-famous life. I'll die very non-famous. I don't want to be famous as a corpse permanently preserved in a golf pose holding a putter.

I'd like to just place a motion on the floor that there are plenty of things out there to create "art" with - let's just leave the dead alone okay?

Anyone give me a "second" on that?