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  3. As most area residents know, a collection of 30 brightly painted, oversized fiberglass statues of Nipper, the canine symbol of t

As most area residents know, a collection of 30 brightly painted, oversized fiberglass statues of Nipper, the canine symbol of t

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    As most area residents know, a collection of 30 brightly painted, oversized fiberglass statues of Nipper, the canine symbol of the Victor Talking Machine Co., has been on display throughout Moorestown since June. Officially titled " Nipper 2005 " , the ongoing installation has been well received. But is it art?
    Ever since Chicago unveiled the 360 bovine sculptures that made up "Cows on Parade" in 1999, many American cities have displayed their own exhibits of brightly painted animals. Underscoring their playful nature, the projects often bear painfully clever names— hence, Cincinnati’s "Big pig Gig"(425 swine), Buffalo’s "Herd About Buffalo"(150 bison). This summer, Crabtown Project"(nearly 200 crabs)descended on Baltimore. Right now, Zion, Illinois, is hosting "Swarm and the City"(81 bees). For many in the fine arts community, this is a case of kitsch gone wild.
    " It’s the scourge of Western civilization," said Tom Eccles, former director of the Public Art Fund, a nonprofit New York group, who says that he can’t find a rational reason for the success of these projects. Arts, he argues, is more than putting paint on cute fiberglass animals. Inquires art critic Edward Sozanski commented, " For reasons I can’t begin to fathom, the animals appear to be an unusually effective fundraising gimmick. " The problem, he believes, is that they encourage low standards for artists and for funding public art. He and others in the art world are bothered by seeing people respond so well to something unoriginal and temporary, especially in cities that produce so much top-quality art.
    Yet the fiberglass phenomenon remains wildly popular. Superficially, at least, the reasons are obvious. Most ordinary folks, children especially, find the sculptures just plain fun. They’re relatively cheap, so corporate patrons can easily sponsor local artists to decorate them. Because they are usually displayed for only a few months, they aren’t around long enough to become eyesores. And when their time is up, they’re auctioned off for charity, civic institutions, or other worthy causes Moorestown’s Nipper sculptures are due to be sold off on Sunday to benefit several community groups. But the big reason animal art has exploded is that it draws people and money to downtown commercial districts, supplying many stores with a badly needed economic jolt. "Cow Parade" yielded $200 million and two million tourists for Chicago, according to some estimates. The roughly one million visitors who came to Cincinnati to inspect its "Big Pig Gig" generated more than $ 124 million in merchant sales.
    Mike Hurley, the owner of Fiberglass Farm, a casting company in Belfast, Maine, pointed out that these projects bring together artists, communities, families, and businesses around a mutual interest, which has resulted in success for the displays. Of course, "success" can be evaluated according to many different criteria. The cultural critics deride animal art in part because the statues often have little to do with their communities. The topic of the "Ewe Revue"(43 sheep)in Rochester, Mich., was difficult for most people to connect to the local area. Organizers were inspired by the city’s former Western Knitting Mill, which was once among the world’s leading wool suppliers. The Moorestown Nippers have a rather stronger connection to their site. The founder of the Victor Co. and the owner of the American rights to " His Master’s Voice," the painting that immortalized Nipper, was Eldridge Johnson, who settled in Moorestown after establishing his company in nearby Camden.
    Redundancy is another issue. At least 20 cities have had cow parades. Both Kankakee County, III, and Raleigh, N. C., have sported wolves. After the success of Cincinnati’s pig gig, Peoria, III, and Seattle, Wa., responded with porcine projects of their own. " These plastic animals are supposed to generate civic or regional identity," said Erika Doss, author of Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs: Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities(Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995). But Doss believes the displays fail to accomplish that goal because they are so similar to each other. Doss, who teaches art history at the University of Colorado at Boulder, also interprets the rise in animal art as resulting from the death of individual artistic expression. " I think it’s boring, this lack of risk-taking. Let’s see something more interesting. " she said.
    " I’m completely torn," said Tom Finkelpearl, director of the Queens(N. Y.)Museum of Art and author of Dialogues in Public Art(MIT Press, 2001). " Most people in the public art community think these works give public art a bad name. On the other hand, they inspire imagination, and they’re not doing any harm. I think we’re going to experience cow fatigue and it’s going to die out. So we elite in the art world don’t have to worry about it too much. " Finkelpearl knows whereof he speaks. Some time ago, his then 11-year-old son asked for a miniature replica of one of the entries from CowParade New York 2000 that was selling in his own museum gift shop. " My kid has grown up with a steady diet of high art," Finkelpearl said, laughing, "And this is what he wanted. "
Questions 66 to 70
Answer the following questions with the information given in the passage.
According to the passage, what is the real reason that animal art exhibitions remain popular?
选项
答案Because it draws people and money to downtown commercial districts，supplying many storeswith a badly needed economic jolt．
解析 (文章第四段谈到人们仍然喜欢动物艺术品的原因。根据该段倒数第三句“the big reasonanimal art has exploded is that it draws people and money to downtown commercial districts，supplying many stores with a badly needed economic jolt”可知，动物艺术展受欢迎的最大原因在于此。此句即可作为答案。)
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本试题收录于： A类竞赛（研究生）题库大学生英语竞赛（NECCS）分类
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