The Counter-Currents 2014 Summer Fundraiser 
“Up Yours”: The War on Art Joins the War on Christmas

911 words

Since our last update ^[2] on our Summer Fundraiser, just over a month ago, we have received 31 donations totaling $2,200 in amounts ranging from $10 to $1000. Of that amount, $234.06 will be matched by our Swedish matching grant benefactor, for a total of $2,434.06. Our total is now $33,982. We are $6,018 from our goal of $40,000 with 11 days to go. 

So far, this fundraiser has strolled along in a leisurely way without needing a lot of cheerleading and updates. I think that is a testament to the loyalty of our readers. But if we are going to make our goal by Halloween, I am going to have to break a sweat by going into telethon mode. Fortunately, I know a lot of donors hold back to the end to see how things are going. So from now till Halloween, expect daily updates, with a bit of “blogging” as your bonus for clicking and reading.

The very generous matching grant of our Swedish benefactor has now been used up, so now would be a good time for another matching grant to send us over our goal.

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In 2012, I was walking my dog through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and I came across an art and craft show in the sunken plaza between the Academy of Sciences and the new De Young Museum (which looks like a rusted aircraft carrier scuttled in the park). As I wandered among the tables, looking at the wares, my dog blithely lifted his leg and peed on the one-millionth inept impressionistic rendering of the Golden Gate Bridge, which had been placed on the sidewalk, leaning against a table. I yanked him back, and, ascertaining that he had gone unnoticed, muttered “Everyone’s a critic” and swiftly exited the scene.

^[3]This callous tale is actually apropos of recent events. On Thursday, October 16th, the war on art joined the war on Christmas in Paris’ Place Vendôme when a 79-foot-tall inflatable sculpture called Tree was erected as part of the annual Fiac art fair.

In fact, Tree is just a giant butt plug. There is no room for interpretation here. American artist Paul McCarthy, who specializes in such tasteless displays, actually combined Santa and a butt plug in 2001 for the Rotterdam Symphony Hall. (It was banished to a park.)

I am sure that McCarthy and his enablers sniggered at the thought of innocent Parisian families posing for photographs with their children in front of a giant butt plug, thinking it just a wholesome Christmas tree.

The joke might have worked back in the 1980s or ’90s, when people were still naïve enough not to know what a butt plug is. But in today’s atmosphere of peak decadence and social media, McCarthy’s intention was transparent, and outraged reactions were swift in coming.

At the erection of Tree, McCarthy was slapped in the face three times by one art critic, and over the weekend, some other art critics sabotaged the air pump and cut the cables holding the butt plug erect, causing it to slump flaccid to the pavement.

The chattering classes, of course, exploded with outrage at this act of “vandalism.” But this reaction exposes them as philistines. For if the concept of art can be loosened to encompass McCarthy’s 79-foot butt plug, then surely the concept of art criticism can be expanded as well.

If Chris Olifi can sell “art” encrusted with elephant dung, who’s to say that a bit of dog urine is not just as good as an essay by Clement Greenberg or Arthur Danto? If it is art for Chris Burden ^[5] to be crucified on the roof of a Volkswagen, then why is it not art criticism to smack Paul McCarthy’s smug face? If there is such thing as “auto-destructive art ^[6],” then why isn’t it just a particularly cutting review to literally deflate the pretensions of Tree? Let’s call it Performance Criticism. May it flourish.

This year’s war on Christmas has opened with an inspiring act of resistance. So kudos to the new Performance Critics. And up yours, to Paul McCarthy and his kind.

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If you have not made a donation to our Summer fundraiser yet, now is a good time. You can make two different types of donations:

• A single donation of any size.
• A recurring donation of any size.

Recurring donations are particularly helpful, since they allow us better to predict and plan for the future. We have several levels for recurring donations. Please visit our Donations ^[8] page for more information.

We can also customize the amount of a monthly donation.

There are several ways to make one-time donations:

• The easiest is through Paypal. For a one-time donation, just use the following button:

• You can send check, money order, or credit card payment by mail. Just print out our donation form in Word ^[9] or PDF ^[10].
• You can make a secure credit card donation direct from our Donation ^[8] page.

Please give generously!

Thank you for your loyal readership and support.

Greg Johnson