A while back I posed the question of whether or not Anish Kapoor is a dumbass for restricting photographs of his ‘bean’ sculpture in Chicago. (Background here.)

So. I ask again. Are Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen dumbasses? Probably not.

Some of the comments on that Stranger post linked above, I DO NOT agree with. Fantasizing about vandalizing or destroying art I find offensive. Also, I like the piece, it’s fun. This pic shows how it’s situated on a small rise so it looks like it’s rolling downhill.

But this new copyright fascism does seem particularly offensive considering that Oldenburg makes his sculptures by copying designs that may be copyrighted or even patented!

Perhaps it’s the city officials negotiating the sales of these things need some education? They should make certain that they get the rights for the citizens to photograph these pieces. If the artists are going to be so greedy, it’s seems the only alternative. permanent link to this post