It's Art! Who cares if it's misspelled?

Well, some of us do...

A colorful mosaic gracing the entrance of Livermore's new library is of a genre known as naïve art because of its whimsical design and childlike nature.

Maybe that explains why 11 of the 175 names and words on the piece are misspelled -- from "Eistein" and "Shakespere" to "Van Gough" and "Michaelangelo.
[ San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, October 8, 2004 ]

The misspelled mosaic has pitted art advocates against language purists. Some argue that artistic expression allows the artist to spell "Gaugan" (the painter known to those who can spell as Gauguin) however she likes, and others say such mistakes do not belong anywhere near the city's home of knowledge and literacy.

"It hurts to look at it," said Carola Williams, a retired translator who visited the Civic Center Library on Thursday to check out a book and was sidetracked by the errors.
...
A divided City Council voted 3-2 on Monday to pay artist Maria Alquilar $6,000 -- plus expenses -- to correct the errors because state law bars the city from removing or changing public art without the creator's consent.

Before the contentious vote, city officials debated leaving the mistakes alone and turning them into a "Where's Waldo?"-like game in which library visitors try to spot the blunders on their own.

It looks like the city may not be spending that $6,000 after all (on top of the $0,000 already paid to the artist!). Apparently the artist doesn't see a problem and refuses to make any changes.

"The people that are into humanities, and are into (William) Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she said. "In their mind, the words register correctly."

City officials who pointed out the errors to Alquilar said she seemed to have no idea the names were spelled incorrectly.

It's Art! Who cares if it's misspelled? ( in category Gemisch/Gallimaufry ) - posted at Sun, 10 Oct, 14:57 Pacific | «e»