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| Ars longa, vita brevis |
A big slab of granite on which is written each defeat suffered by the English football team between 1874 and 1998 has sold at auction for £425,000, a sum which could justy about keep FB in empire biscuits for the coming cricket season.
Many Scottish football supporters have commented that they don't know much about art but they know what they like. They feel the warm glow of schadenfreude at the extended record of the misfortunes of their neighbours. They note the repeated references to defeats by Scotland - indeed the sequence starts with the 2-1 defeat in 1874 (which was played at Hamilton Crescent, home to West of Scotland CC). Surely this is on a par with the greatest scultputes of Michelangelo or Donatello. £425,000 is a price well worth paying for such a masterpiece, which should take its place in Scotland's National Gallery.
FB is not so sure, for greater work may be in prospect of more interest to the cricketer.
The work was created by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. FB understands that Cattelan has inspired by the Cricket World Cup and is working on a companion piece which will record all of the defeats of the English cricket team in ODIs.
Cattelan has expressed concern at immensity of the the artistic challenge facing him in planning this work, 'There may not be a piece of granite big enough.'
Especially if the Scotland side's defeats are included as well............
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