Modern art is an interesting phenomenon.  Once cameras came along and religion faded out, art no longer had its three major reasons for being: to record the world, to elevate the powerful, and to celebrate faith.  Instead, it had only two paths remaining to it: decoration and "statements."  The thing is that, if the art is making statements, the viewers sometimes want to make statements back.  That's what happened in Mexico City, to the tune of $20,000. Art critic Avelina Lésper was at the ZONAMACO México Arte Contemporáneo art fair in Mexico City when she came upon a work by Mexican artist Gabriel Rico.  Rico's overarching artistic statement derives from contrasting objects in nature with man-made objects, presumably in celebration of the former and to the detriment of the latter.  (One wonders how he copes with the fact that his art is itself a man-made object.) Rico's piece...(Read Full Post)