Drama is brewing over a pre-Civil-War barn in Woodstock, recently transformed into a gallery called Vivo Fine Art that opened this summer. The Woodstock Times reports that by painting a big sunburst on the side of the building without proper permission from the town, Vivo's owners have run afoul of town building inspector Paul Andreassen. Is it art? Is it a sign? And will Vivo's owners be made to knuckle under to the Man? Nobody seems to know.
This being Woodstock, petitions are circulating, emotions are running high, and both sides appear to care harder about the principle of the thing than the offending sunburst itself.
[Vivo co-owner Marco] Ferrero, still riding the high of his hugely successful petition, which was even signed by sun ray opponents “who didn’t like the CCD saying what was art or not,” asked how Woodstock could continue calling itself a Colony of the Arts with such brouhahas erupting, especially around new business investments in town.
Ferrero's got a point. After all, if you can't paint a bunch of sun rays on the side of your barn in Woodstock, these must be dark times indeed.
Photo of Vivo Fine Art from Vivo's website.
