Conceptual Art That Doesn't Suck: The Fairy Door

Not all conceptual art is created by no talent punks. In fact, some projects can have a wonderful air of poetry about them, even when they involve pranking the public (gently). From the Des Moines Register:

The next time you're at Gray's Lake Park, step off the path and look around a little.

If you're lucky, you'll spot it: A tiny door with bronze hinges and knob, carefully built into a cottonwood overlooking the lake.

Not even Des Moines Parks and Recreation officials have a clue who made the little wooden door or how long it has been in the tree.

Turns out the "fairy door" was a creation of "Oleum Serpentis", who writes:

There is a lake near my home that has a walking/biking path around it with parks, beaches and picnic tables scattered about. I found a tree with a curious hole in the base of the trunk and I was seized by inspiration. I cobbled together a wooden box with a medieval style door on it, installed it into the tree's cavity.

I keep bits of parchment paper and a small pencil in the box and once a week I check it. When the weather is nice I get 2-3 notes a week, usually from children. If the note writer signs their name, I leave a reply signed "Seamus O'Gray".

Quite charming, really, and you can see more pictures through the links above.

PS. It is New Year's day and I am un-hung-over. Blame that cursed modern invention, "the cash bar", which required that I balance my ability to consume alcohol with the need to get a cab home. I have a very strange sense of mental clarity this morning.

h/t to Cabinet of Wonders.