[lbo-talk] Questions from before the Global Minotaur...

[// ravi]

On Nov 24, 2011, at 7:48 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
> [WS:] From where I sit, a great deal of what passes for modern art has
> a rather low ratio of craftsmanship to showmanship, which tends to
> turn me off.  To illustrate: Vermeer was mostly superb craftsmanship
> even though his paintings could be rendered by photographic processes
> today. Warhol is mostly gimmicks aimed to razzle dazzle the public.
> It is not that modern artists do not possess good craftsmanship, most
> of them probably do, but rather that craftsmanship does not sell
> nowadays.  Showmanship does.  And artists tend to do what sells.  Art
> is another victim of the market, if you will.
> 

Yes (I would add: sells implies some sort of market or consumer decision, but even that’s not the case, is it? It’s about the opinions of critics and academics). There is a great and very apropos passage by Stravinsky about the content of art that I would have loved to quote here, but I am 8000 miles away from my books! I will post it for thoughts/comments when I come back.

	—ravi