Artist, My Ass

What to make of a man called Mark McGowan, though, who later today will initiate what he calls an "extraordinary art performance" on the streets of New York by crawling for an "incredible" 72 hours on his hands and knees for an "amazing" 36 miles, dressed as George Bush, with a sign taped to his backside that reads "Kick My Ass"? It's a protest, of course, the Guardian Art Blog affirms, and one with a specific aim: to offer, in McGowan's words, "a kind of therapeutic engagement". He goes on: "Hopefully people will be able to come and kick me (the President, George Bush) as hard as they like, and gain some comfort in the fact that they can say I kicked George in the ass." Understandable enough in its way, but - I can't believe my fingers are typing this - is it art? Sorry, but no. For one, he appears to have difficulties with spelling the word "art" (it's an easy shot, yep, but then it's an easy word: one "a", one "r", one "t"). For another, his previous work - scoffing a swan in public to satirise the British class system, dressing as a British soldier and playing dead in Birmingham city centre - doesn't say much about the strength of his imagination, let alone his sense of scale. When Bush says "kick ass", hundreds of thousands of real people die; when this bloke pins it to his backside, it's filed under "And finally..." on the evening news. What really sticks in my craw, however, is that it's just so bitterly, absurdly disappointing, the kind of juvenile stunt that makes me want to grab the man, sit him down and force him to look at astonishing, terrifying photographs, such as the one published earlier this week, that describe the horror of actually living in Iraq. (I want to do this to Bush or Blair too, yes, many of us do, but that's another story. Or an idea for a piece of art.) Hundreds of people are dying each day, you want to yell in his face - and this is the best you can do? The biggest you can think? Your utmost artistic effort? (For full source and article click the Headline) Irish Art