Call me old fashioned but I always thought art was something that was enjoyable to look at.
I’m not the only one, because a statue of a man sleepwalking in his underpants has caused uproar on a college campus.
Art of course takes many different forms and can evoke different emotions in different people. A canvas painted red for example, may be inspiring to some while others may feel completely unmoved by it.
There will always be debate about what makes something a great work of art, with pieces like Tracey Emin’s My Bed and Damien Hirst’s cow preserved in formaldehyde being subjects of great discussion. But surely nobody genuinely wants to look at a naked man (with not a great figure by the way) wandering along in his underwear?
The spookily lifelike statue has cropped up outside Wellesley College (an all female college) in Boston, Massachusetts. Students have immediately petitioned for it to be removed, saying it is frightening and unsettling.
But exhibition organiser Kim Bottomly and college director Lisa Fischman have defended the artwork. They told The Independent: “The very best works of art have the power to stimulate deeply personal emotions and to provoke unexpected new ideas, and this sculpture is no exception.”
The only emotions and ideas the statue provokes for me are: “urrgggh, run away quickly” and “for goodness sake, why doesn’t he put some clothes on?”
I wonder whose art collection this piece will end up in after the exhibition?