The Fonz will be Bronzed

Much to the dismay of our frustrated betters. *snicker*

Beauty, or in this place cool, is in the eye of the beholder. Mike Brenner, who started Hotcakes Gallery four years ago, said the statue - which he called a monstrosity - was originally billed as art but after some in the art community complained, it was called a "trinket."

He plans to close his gallery permanently, partly because of the statue. Brenner already wasn't doing well financially and blames it on the lack of local interest in the arts and city leaders' lack of vision....

So I looked up the gallery's homepage, and the first image that popped up was a man committing suicide and/or autoerotic asphyxiation, and the second was a homoerotic photograph of two men in 1950s swim trunks--both part of an exhibition of artists from Phoenix AZ. Can't imagine why people are spending the hard-earned dollars the city and state allow them to keep to frame Favre's SI Man of the Year issue instead of "local arts"... *heh* And when taxes shoot up residents are going to de-prioritize buying art, but that's not the complaint here.

Maybe it's a failure of the public school system. All those years of indoctrination, and people still want to decorate their living room walls with images that make them happy, instead of scared, sad, or grossed out. (I liked the men-in-swim-trunks photo, but I don't want to see it every morning while I'm eating breakfast.)

There's something entertaining about adults taking their ball and going home because everyone's having fun with a Frisbee, though.

The statue perpetuates the perception that Wisconsin doesn't have more to offer than the Packers, serial killer Jeffery Dahmer and the show "Happy Days," Brenner said.

The only people who ever mention Dahmer are the ones trying to turn the place into NYC.

I still don't understand this self-loathing and disgust with beer, cheese, hunting, blue-collar heritage; how did showing up every day to to support yourself/your family by making stuff people want/need become a source of shame, while expecting government grants/corporate charity to make stuff people don't necessarily want or need became a source of pride?