ART

Artist Is a Rat to Animal Lovers: A Vancouver performance artist who was going to squash a rat between two canvases Saturday was thwarted and chased by onlookers to a nearby hotel. At the hotel, artist Rick Gibson could be heard yelling, “Let me go.” About a dozen police had to dispersed a crowd, which had gathered in front of the Public Library for Gibson’s performance. Gibson had enraged animal lovers by announcing his plan to crush the rat, named Sniffy, between two canvases with a concrete block. Gibson had maintained that the animal’s spattered remains would create a “thought-provoking diptych”--two related works of art. He told a crowd of about 300 people that had gathered for his stunt that someone--he believed animal rights activists--had stolen the 55-pound concrete block that he intended to use to squish Sniffy. He said he had taken Sniffy back to the pet store where he had bought him and had no plans to try to restage the event. Animal rights activists earlier had tried to have the event declared illegal, but the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had said there was nothing illegal about killing Sniffy, provided he died a quick and painless death. Gibson has in the past created a stir when he used portions of the human anatomy in his artwork.