COOL OR NOT COOL: Killing a Dog For Art's Sake?

IMAGE VIA BROOKLYN HILARY

So apparently there is this Gowanus-based artist dude Tom Otterness, who makes these really cool bronze sculptures that you've probably seen around NY. Otterness recently received a commission from the Battery Park branch of the New York Public Library to create some bronze lions for their downtown location. The dude was paid $750,000. D-O-L-L-A-R-S.

Now, true, this money came from an unnamed donor, but still, we're talkin three quarters of a millie.

Only hitch is that Otterness apparently made a lil ole art flick back in the seventies called "Shot Dog Film" where he adopted a shelter dog, chained it to a fence, and then shot and killed it...and duh, some people are still pretty pissed about that.

One of those people started a petition in the hopes of actually preventing Otterness from creating the sculptures.

I have a few thoughts:

1. Again, HOLY SHIT! $750,000 DOLLARS!? For some goddamned lions? I thought sculptors were poor?
2. Uhm, I'm not very good at math, but according to my calculations, $750k could purchase about a billion books for a billion diff libraries. No one knows the fucking difference between their, there and they're and we're spending close to a million bucks on a sculpture of the Lion King?
3. I am absolutely disgusted by what Otterness did for his film. Thinking about it literally makes me nauseous. BUT, the dude did eventually offer an apology. He said this: “Thirty years ago when I was 25 years old, I made a film in which I shot a dog. It was an indefensible act that I am deeply sorry for. Many of us have experienced profound emotional turmoil and despair. Few have made the mistake I made. I hope people can find it in their hearts to forgive me.”

Ok, so what do you ppl think? Should the guy be forgiven?