The Pink Flamingo :: Artist Starves Dog to Death in Gallery Calls It Art!

This came to me from the Pet Praise & Prayer Blog. It is sick. Someone allowed a dog to die in the name of art. It needs to be stopped.

This is Vargas’ excuse for starving the dog to death:

“…I knew the dog died on the following day from lack of food. During the inauguration, I knew that the dog was persecuted in the evening between the houses of aluminum and cardboard in a district of Managua. 5 children who helped to capture the dog received 10 bonds of córdobas for their assistance. During the exhibition some people requested the freedom of the small dog, which the artist refused. The name of the dog was Natividad, and I let him die of hunger in the sight of everyone, as if the death of a poor dog was a shameless media show in which nobody does anything but to applaud or to watch disturbed. In the place that the dog was exposed remain a metal cable and a cord. The dog was extremely ill and did not want to eat, so in natural surroundings it would have died anyway; thus they are all poor dogs: sooner or later they die or are killed….”

The truly disturbed photos from the gallery where the dog was starved to death.
More from For the Love of the Dog
The Petition

This is a critique of an exhibit Vargas did in 2006. In other words, this is one of those artists who would pee on a Bible and scream censorship if someone complained. Unfortunately, after looking at his My Space page, it reveals a truly disturbed individual.

“…Regarding the exhibition, on several occasions they pointed out that they perceived among contemporary Central American artists an interest in looking more inward and less toward what is being done elsewhere—in creating art works that make reference to their own esthetic, social, and political situations.

During the round table, important subjects were raised, such as the differences in the way the participating artists are chosen for the Central American Biennials: in most countries, this is done through a local juried art show, but in Panama, it is managed by an art gallery. Discussions were also held regarding the prizes in these regional events, including the option to use the funds to support the work of all the participating artists rather than award prizes to a few. Nevertheless, the announcement of the prizes on opening night produced the usual comments and heightened emotions, as did the intervention by the Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas (also known as Habacuc) who, in a critique of “the show world with its artistic mega-events,” spread a red carpet of tomatoes on the way to the podium, along which the President of El Salvador and other dignitaries in charge of the ceremony had to parade….Among the works that stood out within the spirit of art and politics that permeated a large part of the biennial was Guillermo Vargas/Habacuc, who received an honorable mention. His aforementioned red carpet offered an ironic interpretation of the roles of power and authority, and his video entitled Policeman Intervening an Artwork about the Abuse of Power documented a policeman assigned to mediate between his installation in a Costa Rican prison and the visiting public…”

The Daily Kos
Quotes from Costa Rica Blogs

“…According to the artist, his "art" was a tribute to Natividad Canda, a Nicaraguan burglar killed in Costa Rica by two rottweilers guarding property he had entered at night. The incident caused friction between the two countries. Habacuc told the daily La Nacion, "I won’t say the dog died. The importance to me is the hypocracy of the people where an animal is the focus of attention where people come to see art but not when it’s in the street starving to death." "The same thing happened with poor Natividad Canda. The people sympathized with him only after he was dead," the artist added….”