[Leica] More about art

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com)]

        I know you are sick about hearing me rant about art but I just had 
to get this off my chest.


        I was asked by the editor of the Poughkeepsie newspaper to write a 
review of a modern art show at the Garrison Gallery featuring small images 
suitable for hanging on a living room wall. This is an important venue. The 
annual International Photocentric show is held in this gallery. The big 
prizes attract photographers from all over the world.
        For once words failed me. For those of you that have been members of 
the LUG for a decade can appreciate that this is a rare occurrence. Forget 
impressionism, expressionism. colorism, and all the other neo-isms of recent 
art, this was the least artistic show that I have ever seen. There was not a 
single painting that I would deign to put on my wall. And I'm pretty liberal 
about what I consider art. The featured work was a 20 inch square painting 
of solid black mounted on foam board in a 26 inch square frame. The price 
was $7500. To make matters worse there was an almost identical painting by 
another artist priced at a mere $7000. Another nearby painting was a 
featureless cream white rectangle.
        I shudder to think what the Photocentric show will look like if the 
same jurors select the photographs.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Garrison+Art.jpg.html
        For those of you unfamiliar with Garrison, it is a small affluent 
town on the banks of the Hudson River about 60 miles upstream of NYC, just 
opposite of West Point. The buildings haven't changed for over 100 years. It 
is the place where the exterior scenes of "Hello Dolly" were filmed.
        Larry Z