Don’t miss The L Magazine’s Best of New York issue available online and on NYC streets today. The publication dedicates an entire section to art, my contribution falling under the Best/Worst Unintended art works in the city. I’m providing a teaser below, as well as a few links to other sections I found particularly enjoyable. Look forward to watching at least two hours of your day disappear.
BEST/WORST UNINTENDED ART WORKS
Vitamin Water: SYNC
Has the influence of net artist Kevin Bewersdorf reached the good people at Vitamin Water? It sure looks like it. Known for producing such absurd objects as a towel printed with a low resolution image of a father carrying his son, and a compilation of free music titled BABES, Bewersdorf's unique sensibility finds sympathetic response in Vitamin Water's newest product SYNC. The berry-flavored drink offers a “download of vitamins and antioxidants,” as well as a mystery mpfree available on myspace with the purchase of the drink. Bit torrent sites beware — you've got vitamin water competition? The company's actions speak to long artistic tradition of knowingly creating redundant or useless material as a means of subverting viewer expectations.Liberty Tax Service
Who wants to see a little freedom in their tax forms? We know we do. Every April, Liberty Tax Service executes a city-wide performance in which sad-sack Statue of Liberties stand on street corners soliciting business. This work attempts to underscore the human tendency to forget a gift's history. The French gave us the Statue of Liberty in 1886 as a symbol of friendship and a celebration of independence, but today, accountants remind us that it is a symbol of our freedom to pay taxes.
Read the full piece here.
Other highlights:
BEST ART FAIR: No Soul for Sale
BEST DEARLY DEPARTED GALLERY: Guild & Greyshkul
BEST UNRENEWED CONTRACT, EVER: Bill Kristol's
BEST ECO-TERRORIST: Canada Geese
BEST TIP: John McCain
BEST REMINDER THAT THAT CINEMA STUDIES DEGREE WAS PROBABLY A MISTAKE: The Observer and Andrew Sarris
