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| A phony artist and his dopey, insulting stunt |
| 2005-06-16 |
| Warning:"Performance Artist" at work. Kerry Skarbakka does not fall to his death - he just pretends. Skarbakka is a "performance photographer" who was inspired by the nightmare of 9/11 to don a business suit and mimic the desperate plunges of those who went out the windows of the doomed World Trade Center on that awful day. "It was such a tragic event for me," he said. "I was in Chicago and I watched it all on television." For his next project, maybe he can have a building collapse on him and vaporize himself. Tuesday he put on a harness and had himself dropped, again and again, from the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, tipped head-down and pinwheeling his arms for added effect while confederates snapped pictures that sell - he says - for thousands of dollars. "I can't afford the work I make," he quipped. Anybody seen PT Barnum around? For Skarbakka, 34, who now lives in Brooklyn, the event is only one facet in a schtick of photographing himself falling under various circumstances - down staircases, over railings. We'll call this "Spaz Art". "Falling is such a metaphor for life in general," he sighed, forgetting that falling was, for some people, not a metaphor at all but a cruel and pitiless reality that ended their lives and condemned their loved ones to a hell of grief. It kicks me in the gut to think about the still-grieving family members of those who faced that awful decision - death by fire or a fatal leap - who now have to see their personal tragedy converted into cheap street theater by a posturing poseur. Kerry don't use the harness next time. And go off of the Sears Tower. Really get into the experience. I asked him what he had to say to those family members who might not appreciate his art as much as he does. Skarbakka quickly deflected the subject. "I have to be prepared for that," he said, and then talked about himself some more. "I had to express what I was feeling. I saw the people leaping from the building, felt so much admiration and a desire to understand how and what it would take to do that at that last moment ...." I speak "performance art" so I can translate. "Screw them. This is about ME! Look at ME! I'm an ARTISTE! ME! ME! ME!" He went on, mentioning existentialism and Bush and the war, but you get the idea. Skarbakka was tired Wednesday after his ordeal of miming the tragedies of others. "Oh man, I'm emotionally bereft," he said. "I'm so spent from yesterday's giving of myself. It was really hard." Will somebody in Chicago please, PLEASE, go kick this guy's ass! To be frank, that people will naturally be aghast at his artwork isn't what I find really gross about Skarbakka. I can't do what I do and condemn a guy for offending the public, no matter how cavalierly. What really astounds me is the falseness of what he claims to be doing. "The work is about control and lack of control," he said. Which is where we find the sickening lie. Because Skarbakka never loses control of the situation the way the 9/11 victims did. Just the opposite, he is creating a charade and passing it off as something genuine. A stock in trade of your "performance artist". That, and not getting a real job... It is like putting on pale makeup and a hospital gown and pretending that you've touched upon the essence of being gravely ill. Not only does it not approach the reality of being sick, it misses by so much it ends up mocking those who are. Skarbakka aping something that is all too real for too many would be bad if he did it without any artistic pretense. But by pretending he is capturing a higher truth, he ridicules the fallen. Were he sincere, he'd go off the roof without a harness.But he isn't. Which also adds to the offense to those who think and feel for others. That's why performance art is invariably so lousy - it spits in the face of honest human reaction, all those trust fund frauds locking themselves in a bathroom and claiming it is in solidarity with actual prisoners who don't have Guggenheim fellowships. ...or NEA grants. If Skarbakka is so confident, I wanted to know, would he restage his spectacle in New York City? "No, no," he said. "I don't think it would be in my best interest." It's really hard to do my "art" with a caved in face. That being the case, I'm tempted to jump into the performance art world myself. I'm in the conceptual stages of a piece tentatively called "The Wrath of the Caring Human Being." It's still sketchy, but I know it will involve a performance artist -I'm holding out for Kerry Skarbakka - stripped to the waist and chained to a ring set in the sidewalk in front of the Daily News on W. 33rd St., while I stand over him with a cat o'nine tails, delivering a suitably symbolic number of lashes. That, I believe, would be a piece of performance artwork that the average New Yorker could appreciate this morning. Sounds good. Set it up and I'll be there. I'll make a point of it to be there. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #4 i'm not in chicago but if my airfare is payed for would gladly kick the shit out of him |
| Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-06-16 21:28 |
| #3 His art gives me greater appreciation for the efforts of the famed Monkey Nut Nudger. Now that he is finished with his latest opus, he can return to trying to ram Lindsey Lohan's vehicle. I, personally, am against legalizing drugs, but give this guy whatever he wants. With enough of a ready stash, I'm sure he will return to doping himself into somnabulance in his parents' basement where he belongs. Nobody affected by 9-11 should have to deal with any follow-on project from Kerry. Give him a hefty bag full of weed and don't spare the paraquat. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-06-16 21:01 |
| #2 The sorry bastards who pay good money for his "artistic photographs" are even sicker than the clown making them. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-06-16 18:10 |
| #1 Re: "The Wrath of the Caring Human Being.": Set up a PayPal account, we'll make that a commissioned. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-06-16 17:48 |