The entire monument was made out of plywood and ducktape, which are not exactly conventional materials to use for art. The monument wasn’t fancy or grand but the hard work that the artist put into the installment was obvious. Although the materials weren’t high quality, the piece itself was meaningful and effectively made a statement on the standards people in power place, such as what defines art as art, that some groups of people cannot meet. This was the standard most obviously criticized by the Gramsci monument because the monument wouldn’t normally fit under the higher qualifications placed on art, but it is still considered art. The location, in a poorer area of the south Bronx, strengthen’s the artists argument that poorer people deserve art in their lives even though they cannot afford more traditional pieces. The low quality of the monument’s materials put more focus on the artist’s, as well as Gramsci’s, personal qualities and beliefs instead of on the less important physical qualities of the piece.

Jaimie Gallagher