Sucks to be The Academy

In the old days, art academies were the guardians of craft in fine art, the authority on taste.

The Wall Street Journal reports in a hilarious article how the London Royal Academy accepted an artist's plinth and rejected the sculpted head for exhibit in their summer show.

"Its creator, David Hensel, must be pleased to have been selected from among some 9,000 applicants for the world's largest open-submission exhibit of contemporary art. Nevertheless, he was bemused to discover that in transit his sculpture had gotten separated from its base. Judging the two components as different submissions, the Royal Academy had rejected his artwork proper--a finely wrought laughing head in jesmonite--and selected the plinth. "It says something about the state of visual arts today," said Mr. Hensel. He didn't say what. He didn't need to."

Hensel is the sort of skilled sculptor The Academy has traditionally championed. Such an about-face and subsequent attempt to mask their folly with a wooden barbell has made The Royal Academy ridiculous.

This event sets the tombstone over Contemporary Art. What shall we call the next trend?...