When I was in third grade, like any hyperactive, unmedicated child, I would ask my teacher a series of rapid-fire questions in an effort to better my understanding of the world. She would say things like “You're not allowed to make excuses in the REAL world”, but then when I asked, “What is art?”, she answered, during a moment of demurity, that "Art is supposed to make you feel something."

I have no segway into this, but the art I chose to write about is a 12-foot-tall inflatable rat named Scabby. He (they?) will usually appear outside of construction sites and on picket lines, standing as a symbol of protest against anti-union scab labor. I have a particular fondness for Scabby, partially because I recently helped unionize the largest music distributor in the world (and I’d do it again)!!! SCABBY IS A COMRADE. So, naturally, it’s weird knowing that Scabby has existed in semi-permanent public settings and galleries. 

My original thought about Scabby was that it was not intended to be art, being that its original function was to be a temporary, loud call for attention. When I found out that some folks had cast a bronze version of Scabby for Lever House on Park Ave, I was a little conflicted. With that said, these days my understanding of what art is is sort of fluid, and after reflecting on it, maybe Union Scabby is guerrilla theater art, and Bronze Scabby is archival and historical art. Meaning, although the bronze version of Scabby feels a bit disconnected from its original purpose, which was to be a momentary rush of attention to an urgent matter, from an archival perspective, there is actually a great value in immortalizing this tall drink of water!

I think my 3rd-grade teacher is correct, in a way, that Scabby (either bronze or inflatable) DOES make me feel something. And yet, at the same time, I feel like public art doesn’t have to invoke anything at all, like a fancy rock that is also a chair! And it can also be something that sends everyone into a tizzy, like the giant boulder that rolls through the Indiana Jones movie. IDK! I DO NOT KNOW WHAT ART IS.