It's after 3PM and we haven't done our court ordered mandatory 'Gates' entry for the day. In today's Times, Nicholas Confessore reports on a widespread cultural theft the likes of which the world has not seen since Iraqi looters pilfered a bunch of dusty old junk. ("My goodness, were there that many vases? Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?," a wise man said at the time.)

This most recent assault on the arts is about a thousand times worse, since it took place in New York, where we are proud to reside in an overpriced spiderhole of an apartment. According to Confessore:

About 170 items related to "The Gates" have gone up for sale on eBay, including coffee cups, a copy of The Daily News featuring a "Gates" photo on the cover, and dozens of the swatches of curtain fabric that organizers have been handing out free to the exhibit's spectators.

But not all the items were meant to be souvenirs. There was, for example, a six-inch-long self-locking bolt offered by one Brooklyn individual for $2,000. "These bolts were specifically made to hold all 'The Gates' together," the seller proclaimed, but did not mention which gate, exactly, might be missing one of its bolts.


Damn commerce! It always spoils the beauty and purity of Art. (Oh, and FYI, you can still get your Gawker T-Shirts.)

'Gates' Relic Gets EBay Bid, and Seller Gets Complaints [NYT]