Artist Starves Dog to Death, now to be honored?

From an email I received:

An "artist" from Costa Rica,
named Guillermo Habacuc Vargas,
put a starved dog as a work of art,
the poor dog died there, he did not
want anyone give him food or water.
This monster asked some children to
chase the dog and he paid them for
their dirty work to give him the
dog.In that event,(in which the
dog died) he was chosen to represent his country in the
"Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008", the petition site
is to sign to boycott him, so he won't can participate
in the event.

Here's the petition

Here's what Snopes has to say about it

The above-quoted petition began circulating in October 2007 and seeks to prevent Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas from representing his country in an upcoming multinational art exhibition (Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008) due to his involvement in producing a controversial display for an August 2007 art exhibit in Nicaragua that featured a stray dog allegedly captured from the streets and confined on a bare art gallery floor with no amenities (e.g., food, water, bedding, shelter, toys) until it starved to death. (The artist's point was supposedly to highlight the hypocrisy demonstrated by people's making an apparently sick and ill-fed dog the center of attention when it was presented as an art exhibit, even though many of them would ignore the same dog if they encountered it roaming the streets.)
Snopes can't confirm or deny as of yet...but you take a look at the pictures, and decide for yourself if this "art" is enough to have this man recognized for his display.

Vote accordingly.