So by what standard is public art judged? This question was faced to Sarasota’s Public Art Committee in the case involving the “Adventure Mountain” sculpture. The sculpture was approved for the driveway of Kane Plaza, which is city property. The committee was reluctant to put it there; they felt that it was too detailed of a piece to be put in a traffic circle as so they say. An opportunity to rid city of the piece passed by when the Public Art Committee and the City Commissioners took seriously the word of an appraiser who deemed the artist’s credentials as solid. The application for public art, which developers are required to fill, states that the credentials of an artist must include a r

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also had their entry rejected from the CowParade. They wanted to enter a cow with anti-meat statements all over it. These statements involved the details of the cruelty of butchery and the impotent effects of eating meat. The three specific statements that really called for its rejection were the following: “Eating meat causes impotence because it blocks the arteries to all vital organs, including the penis”, “Cattle are castrated and dehorned without anesthesia”, and “A lot of times the man skinning the cow finds out an animal is still conscious.” PETA saw this rejection as a violation of their right to free speech and sued the mayor of NYC along with the CowParade organizers unsuccessfully (“PETA Asks Judge…”).

The case of rejected entries in the CowParade NYC 2000 goes to show that the criterion of offensive public art is quite strict. About 500 fiberglass cows were exhibited throughout New York City in June 2000. David Lynch’s contribution to the parade was a decapitated cow whose head was placed on its back along with forks and knives. Covering the cow was a reddish substance that is suppose to depict its blood. How gruesome is such art? The city, along with the parade organizers, felt that Lynch’s entry was just too gory of an art to be displayed publicly. David Lynch believes that his art was unfairly rejected. The guidelines concerning the entries only prohibited works that expressed sexual, political, or religious views. Other than that, the artists can do what they want concerning the cows. Nothing was explicitly said about blood, guts, and gore (“David Lynch Cow”)!

esume as well. Davi

Some topics in this essay:
Bronx Ahearn’s, David Band, Greenwich Village, Animals PETA, , David Lynch’s, David Lynch, Judge…” Public, Arthur Symes, City Commissioners, public art, “tilted arc”, art committee, credentials solid, artist’s credentials, “adventure mountain”, public art committee, “bronx bronzes”, artist’s credentials solid,