Dartmouth Hosts "Important Human Hair Exhibit"

What can I say? I have looked through the press materials about this...well, farce is the mildest word that comes to mind. “Major Public Art Project Explores Globalization through Human Hair”—Right. And I, as Dorothy Parker said, am Marie of Roumania. Why not “Major Public Art Project Explores Globalization through Human Sneakers”? or “Major Public Art Project Explores Globalization through Human Nail Clippings”? Or (the most accurate) “Major Public Art Project Explores Globalization through Human Fatuousness”?

Let me begin with a minor quibble. What makes this silly exhibitionist prank a “major” anything? “Major” in this context means “important,” “unusually significant,” whereas this exercise in academic avant-gardisme is simply one more tired effort to come up with a whisper, a wrinkle, a soupcon of novelty in the barren field of “conceptual art.” The only thing “major” about Dartmouth’s hairy hangings has to do with the major fraud perpetrated upon the innocent public who might, in its innocence and good will, betake itself to this exhibition in hope of enlightenment, aesthetic refreshment, or at least some smattering of visual intelligence. One of the things that is so depressing about “the green house” (why the lower case letters? why?) is the concomitant collusion of Dartmouth in this latest instance of cynical cultural exploitation.

Four hundred and thirty pounds of human hair, 40,000 haircuts, and one “avant-garde Chinese artist”—what nonsense!

I have never been a fan of modern art although I'm certainly willing to give it a chance. That is why I have toured the MOMA in New York and viewed that art collected by Don Marron, formerly Chairman of PaineWebber at it's corporate headquarters. What surprised me was that up-close and personal, modern art is even uglier than viewed at a distance.

To quote one critic: One of the most striking qualities of contemporary art is its ability to shock, outrage and provoke its audience. Given that definition, the snuff videos of Islamofascist are much better than the ugly "pictures" hung on museum walls or being exhibited at Dartmouth.