Friday, May 21, 2010

Justice?


On several occasions over the past year I have had a little sport with the local retired art teacher who has a chip on his shoulder. You can catch up here, here or here.


He thought an art installation would bring his neighbors closer together, never understanding why they did become closer, at his expense. They sued. They sued in the county court, the state and Federal court. To make certain he understood their anger, they billed him for their lawyers too.

He had is day in court this week. The teacher's case was that since he titled his work, "Holocaust Revisited", and he was Jewish his rights were being trampled. The judge called it a safety hazard, gave him 20 days in the cooler, during which he would be allowed to rethink his position, so that he was prepared to restate his case upon his release.

He was unrepentant, as he was led from the courtroom.


Toad

12 comments:

Karena said...

Really art run amuck. Some people and in a way like painting your home a loud garish color, that you don't look out at, however all of your neighbors do....

Karena
Art by Karena

K.S.Anthony said...

Well. That's quite a hot mess he's created: really very awful.

Anonymous said...

First they came for the bad artists who were imperiling property values, and I said nothing.

(Just kidding.)

Mrs. Blandings said...

That's the best anon comment that I have seen in awhile. A while. I need to look that up.

house things said...

I find this fascinating. I hope that the neighbors prevail. What an ugly mess.

David said...

There's a lot of things I'm prepared to go to the wall for, yard art isn't one of them.

Shelley said...

This poor man, he must surely qualify for a mental institution!

James said...

While I agree that it is almost painful to look at, 20 days in jail sounds a bit extreme. Does his act of "civil disobedience" make him marching to Thoreau's beat of a different drummer or a certifiable nut case? Certainly not a criminal.

Toad said...

James, I believe the 20 days was a wake up call, court appearances have been going on for several years now, and his was in contempt.

I suspect every few days, they'll haul him out to see if he has changed his mind.

James said...

Thanks for clearing that up, that makes more sense .

Unknown said...

ACLU is a worthy institution. In this particular case, misguided, but otherwise worthy. Dreadful dreadful 'art'. Put the fellow up for the Turner prize - he may well win.

Anonymous said...

Keep us posted. I want to know how this finally goes down.