I was reading Tinkering with “Finished” Work in Edward Winkleman’s blog this morning and thinking about artists who are compulsive and aren’t able to let go, to complete anything.

In a way, nothing ever is complete, and probably, just about any work can be improved – but to what end?

Winkleman quotes a New York Times article titled Even if His Own Work Isn’t Broke a Brazilian Architect Fixes It by NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF :

“…But the greatest threat to Mr. Niemeyer’s remarkable legacy may not be the developer’s bulldozer or insensitive city planners, but Mr. Niemeyer himself.

It is not simply that his latest buildings have a careless, tossed-off quality. It’s that some of his most revered buildings — from the Brasilía Cathedral to the grand ceremonial axis of the city itself — have been marred by the architect’s own hand. And this poses an uncomfortable dilemma: At what point do we — that is, the public that idolizes him, his government and private clients — have an obligation to intervene? Or is posing the question an act of spectacularly bad taste?”

In architecture, work done isn’t really owned by the Artist, in most cases, and I’m surprised that anyone, including Mr. Niemayer, would be allowed to go in and modify his older designs.

Since nothing ever is done – the best thing to do is to make an arbitrary decision and stick to it.