Re: [Leica] Eggleston the Ungood

[John Collier <jbcollier@home.com>]

I seem to be in the minority on this list (with Guy) as I appreciate
Eggleston's work. The fact that "he is the darling of the art community" is
stated as if that automatically disqualifies him from having any talent or
his work any worth. Significant artists have come from both sides of the
fence. The work has to the focus not the artist, his friends or enemies.

Earlier comments that Eggleston's negative character traits must disqualify
him from being a "good" artist are ridiculous. Many lecherous and/or
murderous and/or insane and/or drunken people of both sexes have made an
incredible contribution to our world in the arts. Many happy normal people
have as well. Genius does not seem to be that choosy about where she/he/it
bestows her gifts.

Finally, I do not agree that Eggleston's work is about the old trite idea
that life is meaningless. As an aside, making a statement in your art that
"life is meaningless" is, of course, a meaning. :-) True meaninglessness and
true nothingness are impossible to communicate.

John Collier

> From: Dave Jenkins <djphoto@vol.com>
> 
> Guy Bennett wrote:
> 
> (Eggleston's pictures were) "so crummy that they garnered him a one-man
> show at moma in new york, they continue to be exhibited in major museums
> and galleries around the world, and they earned him the hasselblad
> award.
> 
> but then again, maybe you're right about him and the rest of the world
> has
> simply misunderstood."
> 
> 
> Eggleston was the first color photographer to have a one-man show at the
> MOMA, which has more to do with a philosophical point that curator John
> Szarcowski wanted to make that with Eggleston's pictures. The pictures
> themselves are about emptiness and nothingness and meaninglessness,
> perfect illustrations for an emerging post-modernism. Other honors have
> accumulated in a follow-the-leader procession.
> 
> I remember Burt Glinn being absolutely aghast that someone like
> Eggleston should receive such honor while genuinely great color
> photographers such as Ernest Haas were passed over. Poor Haas...he
> believed in meaning in photography.
> 
> Eggleston is the darling of the art world, but he has hardly been so
> revered by the "rest of the world," who have not "misunderstood" at all.
> It doesn't take long to see that the emperor has no clothes. Nobody
> finds much meaning in Eggleston's photos unless they have already
> accepted the philosophy that meaninglessness is somehow laden with
> meaning.
>