Reports emanating from the west coast of America have grown strong enough to attract Moogee’s investigation. It seems that ‘Wunderkind’ and man about town Damien Hirst the First has not been received with the customary plaudits and ‘god-like’ genius PR he fully expects and not so fully deserves.
Reports on various art blog-sites suggest a case of ‘art-napping’ and hard as it is to pin down a mouse in Moogee’s paws it does seem that those old chestnuts ‘authenticity’ and ‘originality’ are back to dog (sic…apologies) the new Squire of English Art. In fact this time the accusation is that not only is the form, dimension and content of his latest work a direct cop from a previous artwork (LA-based artist Lori Precious) but that far from being a coincidence Lori’s work has been like that for ten years… and Hirst’s for considerably less. Is the great man quaking in his size tens? I doubt it as he can comfortably live off the interest on his loot already even if found guilty of plagiarism and the art-world has invested so much he bound to get off the hook faster than a Great White. Sadly this not the first time he been investigated for the same crime but as Moogee was around in the days when the young bounder was fresh out of Anthony D’Offays nappies and incredulous art correspondents then couldn’t find substance in his P.T.Barnum shows it unlikely to stop him in his tracks now. Still mud sticks and the old boy is definitely going to come back with some mess on his boots this time. Moogee looks away… for once it is not him.
Talking of Smoke and Mirrors. The City of London is still analysing the magician’s act that took place live in parliament the other day. A stocky Scottish magician known as The Mighty Gordo waved his hands and all manner of lovely things appeared then disappeared. For a couple of seconds we all cheered as the arts seemed to be gaining then moaned as the rabbit did not appear from the hat and instead took up long distance running. As reported on Arts Hub the first closure of an arts project (Corridor Arts in Barnsley) has already occurred and one thinks that if the Mighty Gordo and his lovely assistant Tessa Jewel have their way then a whole lot more might follow. The message seems to be that arts funding has had its share of the lottery gravy and other snouts with far fitter bodies need the loot to get us a stunning 12th or is that 32nd in the world rankings come 2012. By that time Moogee will have given up chasing sticks and be headed for retirement as the art world will probably be confined to a small front room in Hackney staffed by invigilators who also doing press ups in front of the exhibits.
Not all doom and gloom though folks as the Mighty Gordo didn’t put a penny on spirits. Does this have anything to do with said magician’s favourite tipple? Best bet for art funding in the future according to Moogee’s ‘Woof Index’ will be M&S, John Lewis and suppliers of fine malts as the country seeks solace in comfy chairs to watch the whole fiasco, a nice Thai Chicken ready meal and a slurp of Isla are essentials for armchair athletes the world over. Moogee has decided to ignore the whole show as they haven’t included running after sticks or barking at the postman in the 2012 schedules. What is a poor dog to do? Make art????
He’s sticking with sticks…
