Friday, November 29, 2002

More Self Referential and (Self-Depreciating) Titles OK, there is a bit of a buzz about artist Joe Gibbon's suing a gallery owner for using the title of one of his pieces for the title of an exhibiton at the gallery. (Hmmm.. not sure if it is suing, or threatening, but there is an attorney involved, IANAL) From what I can tell, it is not that the title may have a copyright, or used without the artist's permission. (I'm not sure if titles can be copyrighten.) The problem is the title no longer refers to the original piece, but the show itself. The title? Any Asshole Can Make Art The meanings are various.... but not necessarily self referential. As noted earlier about titles and untitles, this is information that gets appended on to a piece of art work. Mr. Gibbson's issue is a great example of how a title appends meaning to a work, and how the tile (as information) may alude to different things depending on what it is associated with. (Noted earlier was how a title can allude to different things depending on the viewer's context.) I am not an asshole 10:58:24 PM