[Leica] RE: is it art yet?

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

At 11:07 AM 2/16/00 -0500, Lee, Ken wrote:
>
>I guess I am a dull person with a literal view of things. I like A.A., John
>Sexton etc for landscapes. I own more of Karsh's books than those of any
>other photographer. I keep looking at Ted's book with amazement. My favorite
>painter is Robert Bateman. I think I see a pattern here......
>
>Ken
>

Funny... same pattern everyone else I know has.

True story, I was there:

I grew up in Santa Cruz CA. My dad owned a cabinet mill. A local merchant
(Miller McDaniel), owned the local Hi-Fi shop and was a weekend artist.
Modern art. This was in the 50's. He was quite successful in selling his
modern art through galleries in the area.

Miller always brought his paintings to my dad for framing. My dad had a
"sticker" which allowed him to make any kind of special moulding, out of
any kind of wood, which also works as framing material.

The framing was never exactly symmetrical, the bottom piece was usually
different as it contained a little metal plaque with Miller's name on it.
Miller would always mark, on the back of the "art" which side was the top.
Remember... this was "modern art."

Miller left a bunch of paintings to be framed and when my dad got to one,
Miller had forgotten to mark which side was the top. My dad called Miller
and asked how to identify the top. Miller said "which one is it?" and my
dad said, "the one with the paint drools and blotches all over it" and
Miller replied "Hell, Bud (my dad's name), it really doesn't make any
difference on most of these things anyway, so however you frame it will be OK.

We always suspected that Miller had a pet monkey doing his paintings for
him. He denied it, of course.

Jim