Marilyn, Okay, I'm going to bite on your provocative statement by Vestal. I disagree. I submit that, for the most part, what an artist considers her artistic best is simply trash. The artist tried to develop a distinctive "style," but the result is usually only distinctive garbage. It is a cop-out for an "artist" to blame the viewer for his own failings. Many "artists" live, create and die in almost total obscurity because their "art" is bad. The obscurity is not because the artist and the art is not understood, it is because there is really nothing there to begin with. Of course you can point to some successes, such as Monet, Picasso, etc. who were truly innovative and very good at their craft. If you read about these folks and look at their art in a book, you get the idea that the great unwashed masses just didn't get it, but somehow "art" prevailed. Actually, I doubt it. As a card-carrying member of the bourgeoisie, when I saw an original Picasso for the first time, I was astounded. Pictures in books do not do credit to the art. The art is alive. There was something there beyond mere paint on canvas. I could see it. Others could see it. MANY others could see it. It is not we, the vulgar citizenry, who cannot appreciate art. It is the people who try to tell us what is art and what is not that cannot tell what is art from what is just different. Too much "art" is who you know and not what the art is actually all about. Vestal's statement, however, is food for thought. Now, if you want to provide several examples of what Vestal was talking about, I am ready to have my mind changed. peace rand ----- Original Message ----- | I was looking through old photo magazines and found this statement, | which I think is so true: | | "Superficial, popular work wipes out much of an artist's best, which | demands more from the audience and has far more to offer those | who pay full attention. Most of the audience never learns to pay | attention and get stuck. they miss the best because they can't get | past the crowd-pleasers." | | Photo Techniques, September/October 2002; The Case for Obscurity, | Vestal at Large (David Vestal) | | Marilyn
