Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune column by Tom Lyons (6-5-11) about a controversy regarding artsy stick figures that have been appearing around town, some of which hold signs advertising for area businesses. Code enforcers believe they violate the law, while Adam Nitterauer, their creator, argues that they are works of art (and therefore permitted without a permit). The controversy brings to mind some of the questions raised in Clement Greenberg's famous (and notorious) essay, "Avant Garde and Kitsch". If each figure is produced by a craftsman in a unique way and regarded by its creator as a work of art, then is it so? If the figures resemble each other and appear by the hundreds outside area businesses, are they glorified billboards? Is removing the sign held by the stick figure sufficient to return them to the status of works of art?
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