Elizabeth Priddy on sat 19 nov 05
Vince noted that art appreciation and personal taste
are divorced. They only get together at occassional
family events.
Determining what your personal preferences are and what
is work worthy of note are two different endeavors. To
say that something is crap is ego-centric and over-reaching.
I happen to think that a much revered american artist makes
work that is ugly and mean-spirited, reflecting the dry-drunk
attitude of the artist in every hack and slash at the clay.
It just strikes me as ugly. Is it worthy of being in CM?
It has been on the cover and the artist's work is gaining in
monetary value every year.
And people who have not met the artist laud their ability.
I spent two days with them at a week-end workshop.
All being in a magazine means is that you are willing to
submit to the process and you can justify your artistic
choices. If you want to know what kind of pots people LIKE
and want to live with, look to "Martha Stewart Living". She
loves pottery and made a career for one garden potter. The
ceramic work and pottery she shows lends toward ceramic, but
the handmade is there as well. And MILLIONS of people look
there for taste and sources of quality products.
A million people can definitely be wrong, but that's where
your money comes from, so you might want to stick your
head up and take notice from time to time. If you think that
is crap as well as the CM, I can only wonder what you
think is not. Die-hard appreciators and collectors of fine
art are few and far between. Most people are average with
average tastes. Only a small percentage of people graduate
from college with a refined sense of art.
It is often like pate (pa-tay), it isn't a lot different from
potted meat. But some people swear by the difference and will
pay through the nose for it. Oddly enough, selling to really
high end clientele is like getting a really high paying job,
there is a social component that costs, in clothes, and time,
and cocktail parties to network with the "right" people. It
can even take as much time as shows. Rodin, the sculptor,
rarely sculpted in marble, but he really knowed how to make a
little model into a big commission. And payed someone else
to cut rock while he worked on the next deal.
It comes down in the end to how you want to spend your time
and increasingly how much time you have left. Some people spend
so much time making their name that there isn't much time left
to leave a legacy.
Just some cool evening thoughts.
EP
Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
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Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
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