Re: [Leica] Good Pitchurs

["Bruce R. Slomovitz" <brslomo@erols.com>]

Kudos for having the humility to express your feelings in a humorous way.
However I would just like to ask you this.  Did you always like the things
you like now?  Didn't you learn to like some things and dislike others
somewhere on the journey to adulthood?  And when did you stop learning or
acquiring tastes?  I would be afraid to make the statements you make in this
posting.  Because I'm certain that in this great big wonderful world we
inhabit there's something I haven't yet learned to appreciate and I'd hate
to die without having done so.

It seems to me that the ability to learn new likes and dislikes, to cast off
old attachments when they've served their purpose and take on new ones is
what keeps us alive and growing.  And in case you haven't heard, if you stop
growing that's equivalent to death and decay.  I'd advise you to read
Goethe's 'FAUST'.

Bruce S.
- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Saturday, April 11, 1998 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Good Pitchurs


>I finally got around to reading "good pitchurs". Very impressive.
>Unfortunately, with the huge number of LUG messages and after a long days
>work, my comprehension is a little slow. By the time I got to the end, and
>took the time to look up the big words, I forgot what the beginning said. I
>think it is good insight as to how Mike thinks. I'm too old to learn new
>tricks. I feel what I like, and don't feel what I dislike.
>
>I still think that art is in the eye of the beholder. If you have to
>"learn" to like something, I'm not sure it's your "feeling" any longer.
>Isn't it someone else's? Those that you learned from? Or did you learn?
>Perhaps you went for the grade. It's subjective. I cannot learn to like
>licorice, humus, sauerkraut, Dixie Land, Rag Time, etc. I love Indonesian
>peanut sauce, grilled salmon, Oscar Peterson, Toots Thielemans, Byron
>Janis, etc. There is "art" that is simply but-ugly and you can kid yourself
>all day long, but it doesn't change the facts. Should I learn to appreciate
>the but-ugly city council $10,000 art? Nah... rusty metal chunks in the
>shape of sandwich scraps is not my cup of tea. And never will be.
>
>I subscribe to View Camera magazine, Camera Arts, and used to get "Camera"
>from Switzerland. Many of the images in these magazines are someone's bad
>dream interpretation of art. And people become famous for this. However...
>the current issue of View Camera is killer!
>
>Let me tell you a true story.
>
>While growing up in Santa Cruz, CA, my father owned a cabinet mill. There
>was a local merchant, Miller McDaniel, that owned a radio/hi-fi store. He
>also painted, in oil, "modern art". You know, the squiggly lines, blotches
>of color, etc. He sold everything he painted. My dad framed his
>"masterpieces" because he had a sticker (a moulding making machine) and
>could make unique frame designs. Miller always brought the piece in to the
>mill and discussed the frame with my dad. They decided the orientation
>because the bottom piece of frame was wider, it had a flat strip for a
>little metal tag. Title, artist, etc. One day, Miller left a new painting
>for my dad's mill to frame (my dad wasn't there) but forgot to mark it's
>orientation. My dad called Miller and asked if he could, over the phone,
>describe which way was up. Miller replied, "hell Bud (my dad's name), you
>know as well as I do, it doesn't matter, just frame it. There is no up on
>any of this stuff. People just buy it. Baffles the hell out of me!" I
>worked summers for my dad. I was there. Absolutely true story.
>
>In conclusion. I believe much of the "artsy fartsy" crowd is one step
>removed from reality. A pretentious bunch of airheads.  Some of the "art"
>shows that the people ooo and aaah over are pathetic. "The pretentious
>frauds who assumes a love of culture that is alien to them" -- Richard
Watts.
>
>So that's my $.02 worth. I'm too old to learn to like something I don't
>like, or learn to dislike something I do like. Ain't gonna happen.
>Basically, if it makes YOU (yourself) happy, that's what counts. Making
>someone else happy by lying about your feelings is detrimental to all. Look
>in the mirror, think about the photographs YOU like to look at, and make.
>That's art. It's all about YOU, what YOU feel, not someone else's idea of
>what you are supposed to like. Don't waste your time and effort trying to
>"learn" what someone else thinks art is. BE BOLD. SATISFY YOURSELF!
>
>
>Now folks, just because I sat here and told you my thoughts and feelings,
>in an artful way, don't get riled-up. I didn't lie. These are my *honest*
>thoughts and feelings. Yell at me if you wish, it won't change a thing. I
>like what I like. I dislike what I dislike. Hell! I don't know why I spent
>the time writing this. Maybe my writing, to me, is an expression of art.
>And as the man said, "Art who?"
>
>Jim
>
>
>