The Accidental Masterpiece: Effortless Art

In chapter four of The Accidental Masterpiece, Kimmelman delves into the ways in which people were able to create a form of art, as he put it in the chapter's title, "without lifting a finger." He starts up the chapter with the tale of Ray Johnson's strangely artful suicide, and the events that may have inspired Johnson's actions. Kimmelman's detailed analysis of Johnson's life and his style, combined with his attention to the artist's seemingly insignificant quirks and peculiarities, lends a lot of weight to his theory about Johnson's suicide: that he wanted to leave a lasting impact on the art world. In a way, Kimmelman seems to argue, Johnson's death was his most profound work of art. Beyond his discussion of Johnson's art, both in life and in death, Kimmelman discusses the fine, fluid line between art and life, and the ways in which the two intermingle. His point about people destroying and/or desecrating images of rulers they hated, naturally, caught my attention. It's interesting how things not intended as art - in this case, statues or images of leaders in an attempt to show their power - can inspire a reaction as fervent as this. The statues have, as Kimmelman puts it, an "aura," something he describes as being characteristic of art. To use his example, a statue of Lenin would be much more than a hunk of steel or bronze or stone. For the moment, it would become Lenin. It would be a symbol of Soviet authoritarianism and the lack of opportunity, and the people would tear it down. It's an interesting paradox, but undoubtable.