Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., mh@t... wrote:
snip...
> The people I find that don't like the more shocking yet praised artists 
> are the people who either can't get beyond the shock value and think 
> the artist's motives are purely for shock or fame (like most of the 
> list members here I suppose) or are offended by the material/ don't 
> want to deal with such issues in the art that they view (for example 
> religion, animal rights, sexuality).
Mike, there are times I can hear myself saying something like this. 
The problem I'm beginning to have with this is that it comes from a 
stance that assumes an intellectual and emotional superiority over 
those who "don't like it". Don't get me wrong, I'm the first to rant 
about brain dead people, but the older I get, the less satisfying it 
is, and the less interesting I find work attempting to point out my 
inferiority, because I think it's really trying to point out the 
artist's superiority.
> 
snip..
> Everyone complains when art is too boring (black squares) and when it 
> is too interesting (dead cows, vagina scrolls), where is the happy 
> medium? I am hoping that the happy medium is upon us and that the too 
> minimalist and too shocking periods are now in the past ; that the art 
> world is looking to the future. Maybe we will fit in there.
I agree, but your two examples seem to me to be at the same end of the 
scale with no in between, neither interesting. I suppose the 
difference is that one has obvious literal content, but I would 
question whether or not it evokes any more ideas than black squares.
> 
> I hope I am not coming off as offensive to anyone here, I just like to 
> voice the other side sometimes. A lot of times, the medium of 
> photography gets a bad rap in the art world, and the more we can think 
> in their terms, the better we will be, maybe….
Certainly didn't offend me Mike, I thought it was all well put.
Another comment, about the missing elements of these disscussions. 
There is a musician named Chris Whitley, he defies catagorization, has 
ancient deep blues elements, modern atonal elements, extremely 
literate interesting lyrics, is an impecable and adventuresome master 
of his tools (guitar, voice, composition, sound), he always pushes 
forward (no album sounds like the last), has immense respect of his 
peers and critics while failing to find a way within the structure of 
the hit machine to be successful and bucks it anyway. He is at once 
well crafted and totally irreverant. All these things I like, and like 
to think about...
But if you see this guy perform it all goes out the window. He starts 
to focus, get's in the zone, and all that stuff evaporates. It just 
hits you on a level far deeper and inclusive than all these topics, 
and comes together as a responce that is a new experience, this to me 
is what art has to offer me beyond all else. I could go on and on 
about it, I'm probably getting boring.
Tyler