When It Comes to Masculinity, Art and Fair Use, SIZE MATTERS.

The implicitly male mine’s-bigger mentality that has descended on the art world is close to infantile; it afflicts artists, dealers and collectors alike. The bigness guarantees attention, an accessible spectacle. Most people, regardless of how much they know about art, pay attention to something very big, especially if it is accomplished with unusual materials or labor-intensive craft. This is attractive to museums, which need to fill immense atrium spaces with things that draw crowds. At the same time, bigness guarantees exclusivity; it defines art as something only billionaires and oligarchs, not normal people, can possibly own. [Underscore added]

Fascinating, right? How Smith connects size to gender to class: precisely what the three judges in the Cariou v. Prince opted to do, to the benefit of Richard Prince, and with the added element of force of law. Apparently, this preoccupation with BIG has, to my chagrin, not only afflicted those in the art world; it’s also afflicted those in the legal arena.

Apparently, when it comes to masculinity, art and fair use, size matters.

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