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Horesplay
Here's something different:
Why would such "vandals" be so motivated to repeat the same action over and over again and risk arrest at the home of Saratoga racing? Maybe we should try to understand the message they may be trying to send. I read that they only target replicas of horses and they only focus on the legs.
In your article, the employee of the MASIE Center said it very well. "The back two legs are broken. ... We are going to try to get him back to as much of the original condition as possible".
This is no problem when you're "a horse sculpture". What if you're not "a horse sculpture" but one of God's creatures who breaks only one leg at the race track? Do you "get him back to as much of the original condition as possible" or just kill the creature and rush back to the fun and games?
I believe these "vandals" are trying to send a message. That's my comment.
Why would such "vandals" be so motivated to repeat the same action over and over again and risk arrest at the home of Saratoga racing? Maybe we should try to understand the message they may be trying to send. I read that they only target replicas of horses and they only focus on the legs.
In your article, the employee of the MASIE Center said it very well. "The back two legs are broken. ... We are going to try to get him back to as much of the original condition as possible".
This is no problem when you're "a horse sculpture". What if you're not "a horse sculpture" but one of God's creatures who breaks only one leg at the race track? Do you "get him back to as much of the original condition as possible" or just kill the creature and rush back to the fun and games?
I believe these "vandals" are trying to send a message. That's my comment.
Dennis Karius
Guilderland, NY
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
9:43 PM
3 Comments:
Interesting thought, Dennis, but not one rooted in the reality of the prototypical "horse vandal."
Ever notice when the vandalism occurs? It's on Mondays and Tuesdays...days when most folks are home after work and not think about horses or running amok around the city. No, these aren't folks sympathizing with the plight of race horses or any lofty such thought. These are people who take fancy in these tawdry sculptures because they represent everything fake about an increasingly plastic society in Saratoga. These are booze-filled crimes of passion, which start with a pull of vodka and a statement, such as 'what if we took that damn horse home with us' and end with 'fuck it, let's just smash the damn thing."
The two 'crimes' in my opinion, are not related. The Roohan horse was aimed at seizing a keepsake. The Masie horse was aimed at stealing the damn thing, but it went dreadfully wrong when the back bolts didn't pull from the concrete.
If you want a profile of your vandals, here it is: 20-something, working class, probably employed at a local or area restaurant. They likely say things like 'Saratoga sucks' at the drop of a hat and absolutely abhor the wealthy and everything they represent. They smoke weed and drop a bit of acid here and there; or maybe eat shrooms. They prefer anarchy to society and would enact just about any non-violent but destructive crime to further this end.
And to be honest, I don't really blame them.
hear, hear and nice to find HA here...
at the risk of veering slightly off-point. these pseudo-equine 'self-indulgences' have to go.
no one is justifying vandalism; it's just that the faux horsey's have been a public outrage since day one, unauthorized by any sort of public comment despite being parked on public spaces in many places, and offensive to a segment of the populace since day one (and i believe, a growing segment).
here is the text of an article i wrote for a defunct paper at the time of this abomination's invasion- it's long, but still true today. it was written during the first wave of vandalism, originally written in August 2002:
Horse-Bleep.
By Agphoto
(IMPORTANT NOTE: After starting to write this, there have been way too many incidents of outright vandalism and theft regarding the objects critiqued below…and while I am not surprised, I am saddened…and want to make it quite clear that this is something I regard as akin to book-burning and hooliganism and it is definitely not endorsed or encouraged…you are encouraged to think at all times though…and consider that ‘Mayoral meetings on vandalism’ might be less necessary if everyone, including ‘artists’, respect our public common spaces. AG.)
From time to time I sit here at the desk and realize that, in order to do this column most effectively I have to also stand at the precipice… prepared not to leap into the abyss, necessarily—but most assuredly to take a long, sobered look into its breadth and depth.
And then…
I will occasionally have to slam some things that people I generally respect have worked quite hard on. I do this because it is necessary to comment objectively, and not have sacred…painted horses?? Hmmm…
So let’s start there, with the newest ‘droppings’ on Broadway. It’s obvious that I must be in the dark here, so help out me please…Since many of the assembled Instamatic camera-toting multitudes (tourist and otherwise) all seem to be drooling to have communion with these creatures; I need to ask you all the following humble questions.
1) Are You Kidding Me?
2) When did they pass the new Art Rule Book out?
3) Why did I get chastised by my landlord for leaving furniture in the dumpster, yet these objects get plunked down to graze on Broadway and everybody’s ok with it?
4) Be serious: On a scale of one to ten; how well do these things fit in with our sanctified (and highly cultivated, even to the point of annoyance) VICTORIAN HERITAGE?
5) A) Why was it ok to have young humans with scary haircuts & hair colors banned from hanging out on Broadway, ostensibly for taking up valuable sidewalk space; but it is ok to have young equine-shaped objects in similar scary colors take up even more space?
B) Why do restaurant and tavern owners have to struggle yearly with paperwork so they can have the right to impinge on the same precious sidewalk with their patios, and thereby enjoy the privilege of contributing mightily to the city’s new sales-tax driven budget, when these ‘horse-loaders” get to stay till October for free?
C) Who exactly asked any real people, which by the way certainly includes police and fire department personnel, if they wanted this stuff assaulting our vista from one end of town to the other? Did I miss the referendum on the use of public space? Or can anyone now paint a Magglethorpe in day-glo and throw it down next to “Mr. Ed on Acid”?
6) Did Saratoga Springs make its reputation on ripping-off dubious ideas, like the Cows in Chicago? I thought only Disney World did stuff like that…. I had no idea that we were now into pseudo-culture; I thought we were reasonably content with great and unique ACTUAL institutions like our National Museum of Racing, and the Home Made Theater…and, to be balanced; one should certainly include our fabulous (and year-round) “1st Thursday” offerings for the art-in-public-places devotees in this category. (The main distinction here is that you can choose to walk into a gallery or store, or stay out…you can’t as easily avoid things on the sidewalk.)
But oh, goody, now we get to forge our own faux artistic legacy to stand with these…
So why not create an entire Disney World fantasy with the whole thing, and get it over with? …Yes, I can see it now; an epic two-act drama played out this summer; complete with the outcast gangsta’/steed at the gates of Congress Park (oh, sure: call him Tony), casting a macho-leering eye (not seen since Brando, or perhaps B.Beauty) towards the doe-like “MariaFilly”; who of course is being held captive by Civic Pirates and destined to a life of slavery spinning circles in the Carousel…as we know, their love is doomed, but not before we do get to witness Tony leading a union-organizing drive whereby the Carousel horses stage a successful revolt of liberation, though ultimately undone by internal ‘mane-stabbing’…and not until the dramatic highpoint, where all the humans responsible for importing these “red-headed step-foals” of equine ‘art’ into servitude are all invited to a Special Gala Shakespearean Performance in Congress Park; whereupon they are trampled by the oppressed-no-more Warriors of both the Painted and Carousel Equine Armies, rising up as one, and then riding free into the sunset with their respective ‘partners’ (P.C., you know…) before being mowed down trying to cross the Arterial, and perishing in what We Now Know Today in School as the “Disaster of the Proposed Truck By-Pass”…thank you, and please visit our lovely gift-shop on the way out of town.
But, I digress…
7) Finally, does anyone think that that only by affiliating with ‘horse’ imagery you have a guaranteed winner in an artistic style?
Apparently so, for I do admit that I am in the minority here, and admit further that I am puzzled at the seemingly limitless number of people who think that these things are just wonderful…but I don’t care. They pay me the big monopoly money to say what I think, and I hope this position spurs your own comments pro or con; so here’s mine: These things are generally garish; occasionally offensive, and in some places just plain old “slap the mother, also” butt-ugly. And timeless, too, for they would be tasteless in any age…There, I said it. We all call’ em as we see ‘em…
Rating: ½ star – and only because I like some of the people connected with this…now please haul the rubbish home, and stop taking up important sidewalk space for humans and dogs alike…And then watch the need for ‘Mayoral Town Forums to Express Concern over Vandalism and Bar Hours’ vaporize faster than that babe you are trying to pick up at Siro’s this month, when he/she finds out what car you are driving…
If dis-utopia arrives you've taken the coveted Triple-Crown.com!
MY take is less intellectual than my cyber friends HA and AG. I see it in pure engineering terms.
First, it's a given that the planet is populated by idiots and a few end up in Saratoga. Some steal bikes, some spray graffiti, some paint parked cars...and some mangle anything within reach.
Our wonderful horses create a target-rich environment for the latter. The morally-deficients pass the first one and THINK about knocking it over. They pass the second one and TALK about knocking it over. The get to the third and give it a half-hearted try, emerging encouraged. But for the actual HIT, their inner-coward needs to be off the beaten path.
The sculptures break at the ankles because it's the regrettably and incredibly weak point x 4.
In ALL repairs and in all years to come, I hope the manufacturer of the unpainted shells will insert a 2-foot length of everyday pipe in each leg and perhaps the tail.
Then, the merry band of Moe, Larry, and Curly will flail and pound and might even be seen. And may Clod Above be watching down on them if the eyes that spot them are mine.
I'm fond of telling people that I live in Jimmy Stewart's Bedford Falls. It's a wonderful place to live. So let's have a colorful Fall, a flag on every streetlamp and a pipe in every ankle.
-Kyle York
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