7th Circuit, Art, Benchslaps, Education / Schools, Fashion, Kids, Lawsuit of the Day, Richard Posner

We Hope This Makes It Into F.3d

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A quick follow-up to yesterday’s post about Judge Richard Posner’s opinion in the “Giftes” free speech T-shirt case.
Thanks to the commenter who brought the two drawings in the opinion exhibits to our attention. We reprint them after the jump. And we look forward to seeing them in the august pages of the Federal Reporter.


Here’s the front of the T-shirt:

And here is the back:

Judge Posner wasn’t impressed by the quality of these drawings, which he described as “talentless” and “infantile.”
Later on in the opinion, Judge Posner addressed the school’s argument that “the Brandt T-shirt had to be banned because it ridicules students with disabilities,” since “the right hand of the cartoon figure is deformed.” Judge Posner was not convinced: “It is more likely that Brandt simply can’t draw very well.”
But we don’t see what makes these T-shirt drawings that different from works of art we’ve seen in some of the nation’s top museums. Brandt’s work puts us in mind of Philip Guston. We’re sure similarities can be found to the work of many other modern or contemporary artists (and we welcome your suggestions in the comments).
So here we are. Time for the hoary and cliched “modern art” debate: Is it “art,” or is it just “something my five-year-old could have done”?
Earlier: Judge Posner Gives the ‘Gifties’ an Appellate Wedgie

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