Re: [Leica] Good Pitchurs

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

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