US senators don't have anything to do with the state laws governing such
things, even in their home states, I think. Insofar as McCain has any
aesthetic sensibilities, I suspect they run to the sentimental and
patriotic. It would be interesting in this regard to know what sort of art,
if any, hangs on the walls of his senate office. From the few opportunities
I've had to observe (interview backgrounds, etc.) most senators from the
west seem to have Frederick Remington paintings and sculptures of cowboys.
Perhaps McCain has a picture of the A-4 Skyhawk from which he dropped bombs
on civilians in Vietnam.

jd

On Feb 6, 2008 6:41 AM, Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In that regard, remember the reaction Stockhausen received with his
> interpretation of 9/11 as a large-scale work of site-specific performance
> art.
>
> Perhaps someone who lives(d) in Arizona can enlighten us re John McCain's
> stance towards art.  I heard James Turrell talk about his work, and I
> didn't get the impression that his large-scale, site-specific sculptural
> installation Roden Crater, located outside Flagstaff Arizona, was being
> blocked by the state of Arizona.  Maybe delayed by compliance to assorted
> codes on occasion, but Turrell in fact was proud of his compliance with
> the
> national regulations mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
>
> Barry Alpert
>
>
> On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 18:45:34 -0500, Joseph Duemer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >John McCain himself, in fact, once attempted to become an artist of
> >large-scale landscape pieces: he attempted to turn downtown Hanoi into
> >rubble with high explosives. For some reason the Vietnamese took
> exception
> >to the project and shot him down.
> >
> >jd
>
> >
> >On Feb 5, 2008 4:17 PM, Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> Stephen,
> >>
> >> Your post reminds me to try to arrange to visit Smithson's Spiral Jetty
> >> (if
> >> it's not buried in oil), Walter de Maria's Lighting Field, Donald
> Judd's
> >> Marfa, Larry McMurtry's Booked Up, & James Turrell's Roden Crater on my
> >> next leisurely drive across the southwest USA.
> >>
> >> Why not write to John McCain about the problem?  Who else would have
> more
> >> sway in the southwest at this moment?  I'm unable to sort out the inner
> >> workings of government in Utah (and wouldn't want to, at this remove),
> but
> >> I wouldn't be surprised if McCain was aware of the Spiral Jetty.  I
> have
> >> no
> >> idea of his aesthetics, however.  He'd have to be more sophisticated
> than
> >> W(orst).
> >>
> >> I wonder why I haven't ever physically positioned myself next to the
> site-
> >> specific public sculptures by Nancy Holt and Miriam Schapiro in nearby
> >> Arlington Virginia.  Slides and photos have passed before my eyes, but
> it
> >> must be that I can't visualize their respective street addresses.
> >>
> >>
> >> Barry
>



-- 
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]