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Genius. It’s a word I rarely use. Mainly because so little really lives up to the moniker.
But there’s this guy in Denmark who deserves the title, IMHO (which, it turns out, means “IMHO” in cool-kid internet parlance, not “I ask for hot olives”, as I originally believed).
Anyway, this Danish is an artist. And not just an “artistic” artist, but a con artist to boot. His name is Jens Haaning and he managed to convince the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalbork, Denmark, to offer him $ 84,000 to produce – or rather reproduce – two works of art he had originally created in 2010 and 2007.
I don’t know why the museum would pay so much money for the reproductions. Living here in Greenville, I have met a lot of Danes, and while I love them I can’t imagine any of them dropping to 84 on a print, even one created by the original artist.
The fact that the original work in question was produced using real money explains in part, I guess. These earlier works were called “Danish Average Annual Income” and “Austrian Average Annual Income”. The works had some sort of social and / or political significance, but I don’t care as I will probably never see Denmark or Austria and even if I do, the chances that I will ever earn an income in the either country is astronomically mooing.
The great part isn’t that Haaning tricked the museum into giving him the money, however. No, the genius is that in exchange for all this money, the artist offered the museum two blank canvases. Yeah. Virgin.
The works are aptly titled “Take the Money and Run”. Haaning claims that this is “conceptual art”.
Brilliant.
Some might condemn Haaning for his actions, but not me. Personally, I think I’ve finally found a role model that I can believe in.
With that in mind, please enjoy the rest of this very first “Concept Column”. I titled it “Will My Editor Let Me Get Out?” “
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Hope you enjoyed it! Now someone gives me my $ 84,000.
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