I’ve seen this monstrosity ever since I’ve lived in Switzerland – and it’s always been on my bucket list to look it up and see what it is and where it comes from. It is a “work of art” (and here, “work of art” can be defined as a hideous monstrosity) from the “artist” (which can be defined as “the creator of a hideous monstrosity”) Niki de Saint Phalle, installed here in 1997. It weighs 1.2 tonnes.
My basic gripe isn’t about what’s being shown here, but about the terminology: “artists” like Leonardo and Michaelangelo apprenticed for years and years, then worked their whole lives to create realistic things of beauty. It seems to me that by not putting in this effort – and instead grinding out pieces of less magnificence than those – modern “artists” really need a different term to describe their profession and how they approach it.
I understand that art somehow is an outward reflection of something inner – fair enough. But is it fair to compare an artist like Niki with an artist like Michaelangelo? To me . . . two different professions – and using the same word a-r-t-i-s-t for both over-inflates the former and denigrates the latter.