I turned it in on Friday but maybe you still don't think I wrote it or something I dunno. Either way, here are photos of the hand written copy as per your request.
Oh very funny, image, you flipped 90 degrees. Well, whatever, I don't care enough to flip it back, you can see that the paper is there and the words are on it.
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I feel that what Reverend Ethan Acres does is, indeed, art. Why shouldn’t it be art? Sure some of it is focused on preaching, but then he also does plenty of stuff that could be considered sculptures, like the pigs with the pearls, or the swarm of plastic locust toys wearing hats with toy scorpion stingers attached.
So again, why wouldn’t his work be considered art? Even if one was to ignore his sculptures, his preaching could easily still be considered performance art. There are plenty of other things to question as to whether or not they’re art before questioning whether a goofy Christian man in an Ultraman costume praising God is art, like “Artist’s Shit” and “Piss Christ”. Why can somebody taking a dump in a can be recognized as art but not a performer, even if said performer’s message is a lighthearted message about religion and spirituality?
His art isn’t that different from what I’ve seen. I mean, after the works I mentioned previously, how could I possibly be shocked by something be declared as “art”? Seriously, we are talking about a community in which a man was lauded with praise for, to put it quite bluntly, taking a dump in a can and selling it for money. I know I keep repeating that, but I find it important to consider.
Although I guess it is important to consider that if Reverend Ethan Acres himself did not consider his art, I do not know if I would be able to consider it art. I mean, there’s a fine line between a person giving a speech while being eccentric, and an actual piece of performance art. However, the boundary between eccentricity and performance art is quite fine, I think. Actually, the performance art as a whole seems to have a vague definition to me. I mean, sure, he’s dressing up in goofy outfits to preach, I guess I can go with that as being art. But then, what if he was not wearing a goofy suit, and just giving a regular sermon? Would it still be art? And then, would EVERY sermon be art? And then, would every instance of public speaking be art? And then, all the way down to simple daily conversations? And then, what human interaction DOESN’T become performance art? The line has to be drawn somewhere, but I’ve begun to ramble. If a line is to be drawn, at the very least, I feel that Reverend Ethan Acres’ art would be on the “THIS IS ART” side of it.
As for whether or not he’s serious, I don’t know! I just don’t know anymore, sincerity has become something that I’m honestly not able to judge. I’m in an art community, surrounded by people who are practically powered by irony. Who’s to say he’s not being ironic? A little traveling trailer that looks like a chapel with a swanky interior and a disco ball inside sounds like an excellent project that an artist that is infatuated with irony would love to undertake… I just don’t know anymore.
