Art as a Gift?

I’ve been thinking about presents a lot lately. Many friends have had their birthdays fly  by recently and mine is coming up and I might be seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time for Thanksgiving and Christmas is almost upon us and blah blah blah and my bank account is fucking empty and I will have the pleasure of giving. I just don’t know.

A friend whose birthday is a few short days after mine is one of the classiest people I know so that thought of presenting him with a favorite book of mine or a nice painting has crossed my mind various times but I’m hesitant. I’ve always thought the idea of giving art was slightly pretentious. Setting aside the stereotype of being an activity reserved for the wealthy, it seems to imply that art is an object and can have an owner who will then hang it up the way museums do.

As much as I love museums and art exhibits, I always feel slightly uncomfortable while attending events. All the people who come in, look at the art, try to “figure it out,” and move on to the next piece of art don’t seem to be swept away by it. This process, to me, seems extremely artificial and mechanical. Of course, that could be because I’m listening to Animal by Neon Trees right now but still. The idea of art being owned is silly. It’s not. I watched a documentary about street art recently in which much of the street art was being auctioned off. Blasphemy. Street art is the most liberated form of art. The anonymity it grants results in some of the boldest and most audacious works in history; street art is almost synonymous with liberation and absolute freedom. So, what the hell is a rich old guy going to do with it hung up in his basement? Does spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on acquiring and “owning” something that defies ownership a perverted form of exhilaration? How can something that was meant to please the masses not feel trapped and suffocated in the emptiness of a house, where, at most, a handful of people passively walk by every day?

Did I digress? I think so. Okay, bye.