DALE CHIHULY IS BIGGER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE ... ALREADY >>>

Enough with the glass art already. Tacoma is saturated with glass art - predominantly Dale Chihuly glass art. Now don't get me wrong, I harbor a certain amount of admiration for Chihuly and his many protégés. But enough's enough already. And now Seattle wants to build a monument to this homegrown glass-art icon at the Seattle Center. Surely they can find something better to replace the ancient and outmoded Fun Forest.

I'm not concerned with how much money it's likely to bring in or whether or not it will compete with Tacoma's Museum of Glass. That's a concern for the developers and politicians. I'm just interested in the art, and as far as that goes ... well, I said it already: enough's enough.

I remember years ago the director of the old Commencement Art Gallery had a sign on his office wall that said: "Chihulyism, the art of self-promotion." Admittedly there was a bit of sour grapes there coming from an artist and art promoter who probably resented that so many worthy artists can get no recognition at all while Chihuly - an inventive, ambitious and talented artist, but certainly not in the league with a Picasso or de Kooning, or even as good as many a lesser known glass artist - is treated like a god. That's an attitude I can empathize with.

It's not just that I'm put off by his relentless self-promotion. That's pretty much the only way any artist can gain recognition. It's not just that he makes very little of his own art but rather directs a crew of busy artisans in his studio. Lot's of artists from the Renaissance greats to Andy Warhol have done that. It's not even that his art is endlessly repetitious and that there are thousands of knock-offs. It's just that I'm sickened by the thought of a whole big public building and a huge section of a Seattle landmark being dedicated to a single individual who is worthy of some attention but surely not that much. And BTW, preliminary drawings look like a big orange greenhouse.

Rosemary Ponnekanti writing in The News Tribune reported that MOG staff said the exhibit could be beneficial for the museum if it draws a bigger audience to glass art. The Trib article quoted MOG spokesperson Julie Pisto: "We don't know how it will impact the Museum of Glass, but obviously the Chihuly name is huge. I'm sure it will be very popular. We're looking at it as an opportunity for collaboration in the future. If more people become exposed to and intrigued by (glass), maybe they'll visit here."

It might be noted that Museum of Glass was originally conceived of by Chihuly and was going to be called the Chihuly Museum of Glass. Now it focuses on worldwide glass art. Maybe the great god of glass realized having his name associated with a museum that way would appear as conceited as Oprah putting her face on every single issue of her own magazine. It seems that even the king of self-promotion realizes there must be some limits.

While it is true that the proposed Chihuly feature at the Seattle Center will probably bring a lot of tourism dollars to Seattle, and there may even be some trickle-down for Tacoma, surely Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and others could come up with something else that would serve the same purpose. And what if Mr. Chihuly's art falls out of favor as often happens with popular artists? In that case it will end up being as decayed and unused as the Fun Forest it is supposed to replace. The glass walls will all the broken and grass and weeds will sprout up.

Hey now, that might make for interesting public art.