Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Just posted another image update similar in size (1,309 pictures) to yesterday's — thanks again to everyone who helped out on it. Tomorrow I'll finish up the dregs of it with a third update so if you haven't gotten a reply on your submission you will then.

I wanted to mention a weird art story (more) related to the piece above. It's part of an anti-genocide exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden. The piece is called “Snow White”, and features a photo of a suicide bomber in a white boat in a pond of blood. The artist (Jewish himself) said he was trying to show “how incomprehensible it is that a mother-of-two, who is a lawyer no less, can do such a thing [suicide bombing]“.

Obviously, a reasonable piece that's well within the scope of what would be considered normal and even mundane in modern art. Definitely not what most people would consider an obscene or offensive piece in any way, or particularly edgy politically… But here's where the story gets weird.

One of the invited guests at the art opening was the Israeli Ambassador. When he saw the piece he “went berzerk” (the extent of which is debateable) and started tearing out wiring from the museum walls (and this is in front of all the other guests). He then threw a spotlight into the exhibit's fountain taking the exhibit into darkness, and eventually had to be “escorted” out by security. Another guest was assaulted, and musuem workers have been receiving death threats.

Now, I'm not saying that he shouldn't have strong feelings about this artwork, and I'm not saying he shouldn't have the right to misinterpret its meaning… But for a politician — an ambassador no less — to have an irrational public freak-out like this is just plain weird.