The Polo Mint Adventures Part 1 -- or how Val nearly got thrown out of a Museum, again

I stopped smoking (everything, don't ask) on February 1st, 1975.

I was hypnotised, and was told that there would be no side effects.

There was but one -- I became addicted to Polo Mints (what y'all over there call Lifesavers).

Here is a Polo Mint.

I always have a packet of Polo Mints in my pocket.

I realised the hitherto undiscovered artistic potential of a Polo Mint when I added one to a floor sculpture at a Museum in St Jacques de Compostelle.

I got thrown out of the Museum. Two days later I was ejected from the Guggenheim in Bilbao where, once again, my Polo Mint addition to a large piece of metal work was unappreciated.

These early setbacks have not put me off, and on a recent trip to the Netherlands I continued my Polo Mint Adventures.

Here are some photos, beginning with Polo Mints and a series oflarge bronze sculptures near one of the canals in Rotterdam:

And then I found some sheep, and offered them a Polo:

Then I found a Wall, and here are two photos of the Wall with a Polo Mint. At the top right hand corner of the second one you can see a bit of the head of my daughter who decided to get in on the act;

And then, folks, I went to the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, and visited their 'Minimal Myth' Exhibition -- the exhibits became a bit less minimal with the addition of a Polo Mint;
I took some photos tof the Polo Mint and some of the exhibits. This was very much a quick film-and-run adventure, and I didn't have time to write down all the titles of the works. This series begins with an untitled piece by Dan Flavin:

This one is by Donald Judd, and is called Galvanised Iron (with Polo Mint):

The next one is, I think by Ger van Elk, and is called Unpolished Floor Sculpture:

 

And now for Joan Miro's Monsieur et Madamme (avec Polo Mint):

On to an enhanced -- with a Polo Mint -- piece by Larry Stuart Bell called Untitled Right Angle:

 

Here is Mathias Feldbakken's Locker Sculpture #2:

On to Maurizio Cattelan's Untitled piece -- which could very well be called Man Emerging from Pothole in Search of a Polo Mint:

Next we have Raphael Hefti's Launching Rockets Never Get Old -- well, not when they have a Polo Mint:

 

Here is Sol Lewitt's Floor Piece No 1 (with Polo Mint):

Last come three  'unknown' works that I didn't have the chance to record the titles of because I had attracted the attention of two Museum Guards one of whom escorted me from the Minimal Myths Exhibition and told me that I was welcome to visit other parts of the Museum but I was not allowed to take any more photos.

I didn't.

But I did leave a few more Polo Mints behind.

 

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Comment by stripygoose on September 24, 2012 at 10:39pm

sort of yarn bombing but with polo mints and art. this series has legs. where next? :>)

Comment by Suus in Mokum on September 24, 2012 at 10:30pm
Hahahahaaaaaaa this polomint extra on the art really makes me laugh. Cool Val. How pathetic that your artistic initiative is not appreciated.
Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on September 24, 2012 at 8:51pm

Brilliant! We want to see more in this series, please.

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