Re: [Leica]art photography

["Paul T. Collura" <pcollura@epix.net>]

Alastair wrote:

> This is a wonderful topic which will take ages to die down, because it has
> never been answered since the first photographic image was created. For me,
> artists are often unrecognized in their time. Their art may appeal, it may
> stimulate, it may nauseate. If it elicits a reaction, then it may well have
> achieved its aim and good on the artist for doing that. Not all of us will
> like the same things, food, wine, beer or whiskey --- that's what makes life
> interesting. Remove competition and you die as a society. The drabness of
> the East Germany I saw was testiment to that. I would hate to live in a
> society where only "good" art, as decreed by some committee was available,
> and so I choose to prefer being offended by some...........

Well said Alastair but don't you find Eggleston work to be banal.  It doesn't offend as much as
bore.  Quite frankly I could give a point and shoot to any number of people who are NOT
photographers and I think they would return with photos that rival his oeuvre. I do think there is a
certain sophistry at play by those who deem themselves to be the critics and patrons of "art".
These  discovered "artists" must fulfill expectations placed upon them and either consciously or
unconsciously perpetrate the joke. That is the ONLY explanation of goldfish in a blender as "art".
My 2 cents.

Paul