Giant Tinfoil Ball, 2009 by Emily Keegin
I crumple up tinfoil sheets all the time, but never once did I consider what I've made was actually - gasp - art. Behold the Giant Tinfoil Ball, by Emily Keegin: http://www.emilykeegin.com/ (includes artistic nudity, NSFW)
Now, if I had only kept my giant wad of bubblegums to compete with her awesome creation ...
As somebody who's had to play nicey-nicey while enduring crappy jobs, while wondering how much more I can take until I spontaneously explode and take half the building with me, I can totally identify with that.
As for that tinfoil ball, maybe if it was made of tinfoil hats wrapped around certain parts of the globe...
Perhaps these quotes better suit the giant ball of tin foil:
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
~Thomas Tusser
because ...
"There's a sucker born every minute."
~ Once said by P.T. Barnum, according to American circus legends.
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do."
-Benjamin Franklin
uh huh, yes.
**shrugs**
So why is it terrible to present it as such in a gallery? How is this a scam? For one thing, not all artwork in a show has a price tag. It's there to be looked at and thought about.
I think your argument is that artists are gaining fame and fortune undeservedly. That they are selling garbage, because it's materiel worth is negligible.
Essentially, Art is not about making money. Its about presenting ideas to the public for contemplation. It is an offering to us of something to think about. It is their idea that they feel strongly enough about to create.
Although the material in this case I think is part of the message, the material doesn't determine the 'worth'.
If someone is willing to pay big bucks for a piece like this they obviously can see and feel something more worthy in it that just a ball of tinfoil. Does that make them a fool?