For reference purposes, the definition of art, according to Merriam Webster is:

 "something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings."

The Pieta by Michelangelo Buonarotti

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

ar·ti·fice

ˈärdəfəs/

noun - clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others.

artifice and outright fakery

synonyms

trickery, deceit, deception, duplicity, guile, chicanery;

 

MAY 27, 2026

NOV 20, 2024

The buyer receives a roll of duct tape and one banana along with a certificate of authenticity.

LITERALLY "WHEN CRAP IS ART"

SCRIPPS INSTITUTE, SAN DIEGO

TURD

La Hara by Basquiat

$35 million May 2017

Victory Boogie Woogie

$40 million

No. 17A

$200 MILLION

Untitled by Basquiat

$57.3 million

Interchange

$300 million

THE GAVEL OF REASON

This is not art. This is the carcass of meaning, embalmed in irony and sold as genius. The gallery is not a temple — it’s a garbage dump. The curators are not priests — they’re auctioneers of pretentiousness.

And the audience, hypnotized by outrageous price tags, applauds the emperor’s new excrement.

If this is art, then the word has lost its meaning — and the priests and their followers have lost their minds.