Performance art is often perplexing or even incomprehensible. Take for instance, two guys in suits dragging a giant ball-point (wheel-point, actually) pen across the West. You decide what it means.
The artwork, called linear (uncapitalized, of course), kicked off in Vernal, probably the least performance art-friendly location in North America. But maybe Vernal, notorious even in Utah for its crankiness, was chosen on purpose, considering the artists’ statement: “Dressed in suits as businessmen, the two of them wander through the plains and irritate the natives with the oversized ballpoint pen.”
We had to wonder if the artists had factored into their concept (and annoyance factor) that they look exactly like Mormon missionaries. It kind of changes everything, guys.
Need we we say Wolfgang Aichner, 51, and Thomas Huber, 52; are Germans?
The epic and, with any luck, irritating journey will end Thursday in Utah, after completing an invisibly drawn rectangle containing some of the West’s loneliest terrain.
