WHO could have a problem with special love feelings?
That’s what artist David Kramer thought when the New York Stock Exchange asked to borrow five of his word-based paintings for a new display in NYSE’s lobby on Broad Street.
Knowing how easy it is to offend people, Kramer erred on the side of caution, choosing five noncontroversial word paintings: “NONSTOPACTION,” “SUPERTURBOCHARGED,” “ULTRALITE,” “hasbeenneverwas” and, of course, “speciallovefeelings.”
He didn’t even offer the Stock Exchange controversial works like “F- – – -ngoverwhelming” or “MYOWNWORSTENEMY,” which features the words arranged in a circle so that the last two letters of “enemy” are also the letters of “my.” (In today’s world, some bearish broker might have complained that Kramer was making a statement about the vicious, cannibalistic cycle of American capitalism, or something like that.)
But Kramer never thought “speciallovefeelings,” which is just a pink background with the word “speciallovefeelings” painted on it, would raise any corporate red flags.
Naturally – this is New York, this is America, this is the Age of Victimhood – all hell broke loose almost from the moment “speciallovefeelings” went on display over a guard’s post at the shaky epicenter of American capitalism.
The stock exchange should be commended for thinking it needed to spruce up its boring lobby, in the first place. Most companies don’t bother putting any art in their lobbies, lest someone get offended. If they do install something, it’s usually the most innocuous kind of blather.
Most gallery owners have stories about seemingly inoffensive work – a Georgia O’Keeffe painting, an abstract sculpture that looks like nothing except tangled wire – that angers some building tenant and needs to be removed.
But how could anyone have anticipated the reaction to Kramer’s work? After all, the supposedly offensive words are on the painting. There’s no “hidden” meaning, no homoerotic subtext, no smoking dung on the Virgin Mary.
That matters little now. As Kramer hears it, someone who works at the exchange made a homophobic remark to the guard standing under “speciallovefeelings” and the guard “flipped out.” The painting was hastily removed.
Kramer’s not convinced. The other day – with the Gnome in tow – Kramer questioned the guards, who denied making or receiving any untoward remarks.
“Actually, I really liked it,” said one of the security guards, a wisecracking Brooklynite right out of central casting. “It said ‘love.’ It made people think I was full of love. I got compliments! I thought, ‘Hey, I might even get lucky!'”
The guard blamed management for the removal.
“Management wanted it down. This is New York. One out of every 10 people is an a- – – – – -.”
Only one out of 10?
“Well, it’s really one out of five, but I was being nice,” he said.
The person who removed the painting did not return a call.
The whole incident is especially ironic because misinterpretation is at the center of Kramer’s work. The whole point of his paintings, as I understand them, is how difficult it is to make yourself understood using language only.
After all, at first blush, “NONSTOPACTION” and “SUPERTURBOCHARGED” might appear to be statements about the exciting, hormone-fueled world of high finance. And when you stop blushing, you realize that “NONSTOPACTION” is just Kramer making fun of his own limited success as an artist, while “SUPERTURBOCHARGED” is really just a comment on how hard it is to be considered a success in the art world.
“It was me saying, ‘Hey, buy this painting. This one’s superturbocharged.'”