I have no opinion of body modification in itself. What my objection is to this is a sfollows:

First we don't know how he aquired the "ear" and ultimately it really doesn't matter. The company that makes these viable bio-engineered ears are in business to sell them and I am sure they dont care who buys them.

what bothers me is that this "artist" chooses to expend this bio-engineering effort to modify his forearm which benefits nothing except to bring attention to himself.

Here is what would have been more artfull IMHO: purchase the ear, donate it to a child or some other deserving person who needs and EAR and then after the procedure is over and it heals, take a candid portrait of the person and publish it as a poster or postcard with the proceeds going toward purchasing more ears for more earless people.

THAT is ART
that is an act of selfless beauty
that is a random act of kindness
that brings awareness and joy to the world
that is (per merriam-webster) the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects

this guy is a jackhole!!!

 

out of all the body parts, he chose ear?

 

Hmm.

Is a person who spends $1000 on an elaborate tatoo a jackhole, who should instead have donated the money to a charity?

Is a person who spends $30k on an S2000 a jackhole, and should instead purchase a used Tercell and donate the difference to a charity?

David Blaine spend a week immersed in8 feet of water on public display. Dunno what that cost to set up, but is he a jackhole for doing it instead of donating to a flood relief fund or similar?

Is a person being a jackhole each time they buy a three-dollar Starbucks drink? Buy a $2000 HDTV? Spend $20 at a restaurant instead of growing a garden in their back yard? Buy Volk wheels? A turbo charger kit?

Again, I don't see a single thing wrong with what he did - no more than when anybody else spends money on themselves, at least.

 

Better than a third nipple.

 

[QUOTE=Elistan,Oct 12 2007, 02:34 PM] Hmm.

Is a person who spends $1000 on an elaborate tatoo a jackhole, who should instead have donated the money to a charity?

Is a person who spends $30k on an S2000 a jackhole, and should instead purchase a used Tercell and donate the difference to a charity?

David Blaine spend a week immersed in8 feet of water on public display.

 

Where does it say that this ear thingy he now has was originally intended for somebody who needed it? I'm not trying to argue here - I'm honestly curious where you formed the opinion that someone was deprived of something because of this. Did I miss something in the article? Perhaps I didn't read something close enough?

The waiting list for organ transplants is a long one. My GF works with a lady that had to wait YEARS for a new liver. If this guy had a healthy liver, but took one from an organ donor to put it on display - yeah, that'd be reprehensible, probably worthy of criminal homicide charges.

But my impression is he did something along the lines of breast augmentation - yeah, the implants can be used for reconstruction on breast cancer survivors who had mastectomies, but that doesn't mean somebody getting an implant for cosmetic reasons is a jackhole because they deprived a mastectomy patient from getting an implant.

 

it's and inferrence I made given the fact it is made of human cartilage and that other surgeons questioning it's need given the absence of clinical need. that and the fact it took years to find a surgeon prepared (willing more like it) to do the procedure all point to the fact it was a medical grade item he finally found someone willing to sell him.

your boob thing would hold up if the ears were sought after for cosmetic enhancement and they were mass produced and made of synthetic material.

As far as I can tell the market for human cartilage "real" ears is fairly specific and they are not sought for cosmetic enhancement. they are sought after to replace an actual ear that was lost to offer the host a function aural capturing device and to offer aesthetic balance.

Yes I would be equally against someone installing a boob on thier neck (for the sake of art) made of real human boob material if they were produced for medical/surgical/reconstructive purposes.

install all the fake boobs or ears you want. my original post in this thread stated if he were to have an ear shaped piece of plastic insterted in his arm like these other jackholes:



then everything would have been perfectly cool with me. He would have been a simple idiot to me and I would have moved on.

 

Sadly he's Australian.................

Freak MATE!

 

bums dont really need ears. they register sounds through vibrations in the ground. hence, their fingerless gloves. no harm, no foul.

 

Wow, what a total wierdo...