jpegcritting: Sharon Louden

From Ed Winkelman's blog, by way of Aron Namenwirth, artist Sharon Louden is incensed because Yahoo! messed with her outdoor installation after she got paid. Artist-made stalks with mirrors at the tips mingled with native swamp grasses creating an eerie effect at night like hovering fireflies but possibly didn't look so hot during the day. Yahoo! turned its gardeners loose with weed whackers, converting the grass and stalks into what the artist calls a bad miniature golf course. Cynical thoughts based on looking at the jpegs and reading descriptions of the before and after: (1) Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas--it's a large American corporation, what did you expect--sensitivity? (2) I remember when the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston gave its tiny lawn to Meg Webster for restorative landscaping with native grasses and a rivulet--it looked horrible and was eventually changed back. (3) Based on the jpegs Yahoo's putt putt course might be an improvement over the original (neither look very good in the daylight). Call it a "Gardener Remix" or take your name off of it, but move on. Corporate commissions are bread and butter, not a lasting legacy. That's how I've treated mine anyway--I just never go back to the building after the check clears.