But is it Art?

By sizemore Last edited 227 months ago
But is it Art?
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If last month you were annoyed to find the side of your car scratched and wished you could get your hands on the twat responsible then you may be in luck. Not only do we know who did it we can also offer the consolation that the damage was actually a work of art. Mark McGowan, the artist who nailed his feet to a wall in protest against leaves and pushed a nut with his nose for seven miles, has now keyed a number of cars in Camberwell and Glasgow. Not only is he admitting to the vandalism he will also exhibit pictures of himself scratching the vehicles' paintwork.

The BBC reports that McGowan believes that the owners of the cars should think themselves lucky to be part of his work:

"I do feel guilty about keying people's cars but if I don't do it, someone else will. They should feel glad that they've been involved in the creative process. I pick the cars randomly. I got the idea when my sister and brother-in-law's cars were keyed. Is it jealousy that causes someone to key a car? Hatred? Revenge? There is a strong creative element in the keying of a car, it's an emotive engagement"

Now we don't want to put on our Daily Mail hats and decry this guy's artistic freedom, but if we went around all inspired by crap that happens to our siblings we'd be producing art based on getting drunk on cheap lager, putting too much hot sauce on day old kebab meat and falling asleep in front of early morning repeats of Trisha on ITV. You know... Turner Prize stuff.

Now if he had set fire to cars strategically placed to form the blazing logo of a comic book vigilante... well that would have been art.

Last Updated 18 April 2005