{"id":4229,"date":"2016-05-06T08:51:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T14:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/?p=4229"},"modified":"2017-09-19T10:04:53","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T16:04:53","slug":"theres-an-ass-involved-in-this-exhibit-spoiler-alert-its-not-the-donkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/?p=4229","title":{"rendered":"There’s an ass involved in this exhibit. Spoiler alert: it’s not the donkey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Donkey<\/a>
Donkey exhibit image via Their Turn.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Frieze art fair in New York has a donkey on display as an “exhibit.”\u00a0 The “artist” is\u00a0Maurizio Cattelan.\u00a0 The donkey is left standing around in an empty room with a chandelier above.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 This has no meaning, no message, nothing.\u00a0 The artist thinks it connects humans to animals.\u00a0 This couldn’t be further from the truth.\u00a0 Instead, this donkey is on display, an object for our entertainment.\u00a0 This is no different than going to a zoo, other than the pointless chandelier.<\/p>\n

Many people are up in arms over the welfare of the donkey.\u00a0 Of course the show promoters argue that the donkey has it “good” and much better than being in a barn.\u00a0 Then again, are animals meant to just live out their lives in a barn?<\/p>\n

This is not the first time animals have been used as “art.”\u00a0 Last year there were a dozen horses cooped up in a gallery.\u00a0 And in 2014, tortoises had i-Pads screwed into their shells for an “installation” piece by Cai Guo-Qiang.\u00a0 These are just recent examples that have made headlines.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there are others.\u00a0 In every one of these cases, the artists and the gallery owners all argue that the animals are fine and unharmed.\u00a0 There is no way that they can know this.\u00a0 They just issue some sanitary, generic statement to put the public at ease and go about their day.\u00a0 The animals are not their highest concern.<\/p>\n

There is no reason why live animals should be used as art.\u00a0 If you were to replace the animal with a child, you would get a call from Social Services, so how is it any different for any other living being?\u00a0 There are ways to get your message across without using live animals.\u00a0 You’re an artist, get creative and figure out another way.\u00a0 I paint animals, I focus on our connection to the natural world, and I also deal with difficult issues such as habitat destruction and extinction, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

If you really want to make a statement, how about going vegan?\u00a0 How about not supporting companies that test on animals?\u00a0 How about rescuing animals rather than using them?\u00a0 That’s a far greater statement than this so-called art.<\/p>\n

————<\/p>\n

www.AmyGuidry.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Get the latest on new works via my monthly newsletter: www.amyguidry.com\/contact.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com\/pages\/Amy-Guidry\/51953219932<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Frieze art fair in New York has a donkey on display as an “exhibit.”\u00a0 The “artist” is\u00a0Maurizio Cattelan.\u00a0 The donkey is left standing around in an empty room with a chandelier above.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 This has no meaning, no message, nothing.\u00a0 The artist thinks it connects humans to animals.\u00a0 This couldn’t be further from the … Continue reading There’s an ass involved in this exhibit. Spoiler alert: it’s not the donkey<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[146,145,1428,1057,34,5,55,1426,1425,53,1181,1427,1429],"class_list":["post-4229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-animal-abuse","tag-animal-cruelty","tag-art-fair","tag-new-york","tag-amy-guidry","tag-art","tag-artist","tag-donkey","tag-frieze","tag-gallery","tag-horses","tag-installation","tag-tortoise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4591,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions\/4591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}