Jumping between radio stations driving in this morning and came across a reading of a comic essay that appeared in the NEW YORKER a few years ago. It's about a caveman society and the narrator is describing life in the stone-age, including this tongue-in-cheek swipe at conceptual art:
Boog is very good at making words. For example, last week he showed off his new picture at the Main Cave. Everyone was expecting it to be a horse or a bear (all his pictures so far have been horses, bears, or a mix of horses and bears). But this picture was not of any animal. It was just a bunch of red streaks. People were angry.
“I wanted animals,” the Old Person said. “Where are the animals?”
It was bad situation. I thought that Boog would lose his job or maybe be killed by stones. But then Boog stood on a rock and spoke.
“My art is smart,” he said. “And anyone who does not get it is stupid.”
Everyone was quiet. We looked at the Old Person to see what he would say.
The Old Person squinted at the red streaks for a while. Then he rubbed his chin and said, “Oh, yes, now I get it. It is smart. People who do not get it are stupid.”
A few seconds later, everyone else got it.
“It is smart,” they said. “It is smart!”
[From NEW YORKER essay “I Love Girl” by Simon Rich ]