The article immediately raises the question: Which one of his brothers works at the Times? It's the type of artist profile that regularly slips into the paper without being vetted by any of their regular critics. The whole "I quit my job as a lawyer/doctor/accountant to become an artist" is journalism 101, a hack story--a fantasy for subway straphangers. The discussion of his work is completely ahistorical--no mention of Arman, Andy Goldsworthy (who "documents" calendar-worthy accumulations of natural objects as opposed to waste) or Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who devotes her career to documentation of waste processes invisible to most of the country. He doesn't need to be original, he's earnest, and hey--he quit his job to do this. [end nuclear annihilation]
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- tom moody 7-24-2005 6:29 pm