Can an Artist Be Too Big to Fail (or Jail)?
The phrase “too big to fail” still rings hollowly and painfully for everyone who remembers the 2008 bailout of the reeling U.S. financial system that was termed necessary to avoid the kind of mess our economy’s currently facing now. When I read about Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum’s facing possible jail time over unpaid taxes and the possibility that he’d have to give up painting while incarcerated, I wondered if Nerdrum might be “too big to fail” or, in this case, jail. Even if guilty, is it ethical to force an artist, especially one in his sixties, to stop making great art? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Can an Artist Be Too Big to Fail (or Jail)?"
[Image: Odd Nerdrum. Self-Portrait with Eyes Closed, 1991.]
