Provincial Providence Clash

Heard the recent news about a guy in Miami who intentionally broke an Ai Weiwei vase during an art opening? And they wonder why a lot of the country thinks there are only hicks down there!  Supposedly this idiot did it ‘in protest’ – apparently because he’s a frustrated loser who thinks local artists (read: HIMSELF)  should be showing instead of ‘foreigners’ like Ai. It’s no wonder they don’t have many decent museums in the South with such pea-brained creative persons using them as venue for destruction of art and personal publicity stunts. I wonder if he would consider it a ‘protest’ if someone walked into his studio and slashed or burned one of his paintings? Maybe he took to heart the recent study from the University of Limerick that claims artist’s artwork is perceived more positive and original if the artist that created it is more eccentric in their behavior. This ‘study’ seems to perpetuate the notion that ‘real’ artists are better as psychos and don’t really encompass all of humanity like every other profession. I think the idea that artists have to be weird seems like a recent thing that started with Van Gogh’s ear or Gauguin’s sex-clusion, and continues today with antics like Lady Gaga and Banksy’s ‘mister brainwash’. Most successful artists have been relatively normal – Michelangelo and Rubens and Picasso etc seemed more concerned with fitting INTO their contemporary society and were recognized because of it.  I personally prefer to think that in the modern era you do not have to resort to packaging your feces (or acting like one) in order to be a significant artist. Viva the ordinary! Wonder if serving jail time for destroying art counts as eccentricity?