Katha Dickens-Sirshan, of the Charles MacArthy Foundation, recently announced the recipients of this year’s MacArthy Fool-O-Ships, given to people who personify the depth to which contemporary arts have descended. Of the hundreds of people who have been awarded the so-called idiot grants, of crisp new $3 bills (as in "as queer as..."), there generally have been few surprizes. But when this year’s awards were announced thirteen days ago, it was obvious that few have been as deserving as this year’s batch of losers. Among the tone-deaf musicians, paraplegic dancers, and scores of self-absorbed, semi-autobiographical post-modern fiction writers, were three particularly obnoxious artists, some well known within their immediate families, but much less so to broader audiences.

Ford Richman, playwright (playwrong?), founder of the Scatalogical and Hygienic Theater and leading exponent of Theatre of the Absent (in which no audiences are permitted). The only way to experience his plays are to become a member of the cast. How does one do that? You must audition a monologue which extols the virtues of Mr. Richman.

Also acknowledged was Sue Mifune-Ito, a blind D.C. photographer known for her candid, but generally indecipherable snaps of our nation’s legislators. Armed with a point-and-shoot and her seeing-eye dog, she is able, because of her disability, to capture some Beltway VIP’s in flagrante. Unfortunately, one cannot usually make out who, if anyone, is actually in the photographs.

Another is James X. Nova, artist and creator of such travesties as "Urinal" and "Roach Beef" (exhibitions include Amos Eno Gallery in SoHo, Barrett House Galleries in Poughkeepsie, Viridian Artists on 57th street, as well as galleries in Texas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania). [for more on this artist, choose the green button below}.

© 1997 jxnova@pipeline.com

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