kicking puppies is bad

I don’t really understand art. I never have. I pretended in understand art in college. One of my majors was Electronic Media Arts and Communications (EMAC). I graduated with high honors, so I must have pretended to understand art well enough. But the truth is, I didn’t get it then. I don’t get it now.

In my Video Art and Installation class, when Brian video taped himself in the fetal position wearing a diaper and then projected this (mildly disturbing) image on an egg, I didn’t get it. The course instructor thought it was deep. Brian got an ‘A’. I got an ‘A’ too – but I didn’t wear a diaper or project an image of myself on an egg.

In our Senior Capstone class, Disco Beaver (the 3D animated short about a Beaver at a Disco) was cool. But if there was some deep meaning then I missed it. I mean, it was a 3D animated Beaver. At a disco. And the animation wasn’t that good. Clearly I missed something, because Disco Beaver also got an ‘A’. And Disco Beaver was labeled “deep and artistic”. I guess I just don’t understand (or appreciate) art.

This brings me to Rochester’s Epileptic Gorilla.

Someone clearly thought it was a good idea to create a 10 foot gorrilla statue that emulates the Statue of Liberty and holds a tablet stating: Epilepsy ~ Can affect anyone ~ any age any time. ~ It does not stop them ~ from reaching their ~ fullest potential.

Now, honestly, this seems like something some of EMAC classmates might have created. But it probably would have been the result of a drug trip — not a carefully planned, commissioned project. I think a lot of the EMAC projects (like Disco Beaver, and Brian’s Egg Thing) were the result of drug trips. Apparently, Epileptic Gorilla was *not* the result of a drug trip. Epileptic Gorilla was a carefully planned creation.

The Epilepsy Foundation carefully chose the gorilla because gorillas are “family-oriented and caring” (which apparently somehow represents epilepsy?). They then hired 2 artists to create Epileptic Gorilla. The artists decided Epileptic Gorilla should hold the Epilepsy Foundation logo (the flame), This apparently led them to the decision to dress the Gorilla as the Statue of Liberty. Epileptic Gorilla was created.

And I don’t get it. Don’t get me wrong, for some reason I like Epileptic Gorilla. I just don’t understand Epileptic Gorilla. I spent the majority of my undergrad EMAC coursework feeling like I was missing something. Once again, I feel like I am missing something. Perhaps this is why I abandoned my EMAC degree, went to grad school and became a statistician / programmer. Sigh.