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what is art? continued September 8, 2002 |
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Yesterday at Convergence, a woman who was watching the knitting machine with us mentioned that Dave Cole had been written up in Yankee Magazine. We stopped in at the Brown Bookstore this afternoon to take a look at a copy. Since it was sealed in plastic, I had to buy it based on the cover blurb - six artists to watch. Still in what-is-art-mind, I went for it. But did I stop there? No, despite my resolve to buy no more books ever or at least until I get a bigger house or more bookshelves and a less full life, came a way with three books: a collection of Haruki Murakami short stories called After the Quake, a critical biography of Murakami that had been reviewed in today's Providence Journal, and yet another book purporting to describe Pytheas the navigator's journey to Ultima Thule. Is Pytheas the navigator a genre? I'm sooooo in what-is-art-mind that I start wondering if lunch at Johnny Rocket's is performance art. The wait staff dance to R-E-S-P-E-C-T in a carefully choreographed routine. Were the fifties anything like Johnny Rocket's version of them? Anyway, lunch over with, back to our subject. The Yankee Magazine article claims to be about 6 emerging New England artists. The introductory essay endeavors to explain what emerging means. Then there's a short essay about each of the six artists. Seems straightforward enough 'til you realize what the artists are emerging from is New England, not youth or obscurity exactly, just New England. Or something like that. The article's basic position that these artists are about to gain national recognition was kind of making sense to me even though the author explicitly said "in this case national means New York". OK, NYC is the center of the art world, so recognition in NYC means national recognition. So far so good. Then he throws in a quote from some expert on regional art who adds "After all, New England art doesn't travel to California." How did California get in there? And if New England art doesn't travel to California or wherever all else, who buys all those kitschy paintings of Motif #1 in Rockport? And what exactly is New England art? Only one of the 6 artists profiled painted New England landscapes. How are knitted lead mittens, paintings of salt and pepper shakers, or portraits of children regional? Are backhoes regional? And backhoes could travel, y'know. You might not want to drive one to California, but you could. And you could knit with them along the way. |
Today's Reading This Year's Reading Links for more on Convergence and Dave Cole Chowdah - the segment they interviewed us for will be broadcast Sept. 26 |
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Copyright © 2002, Janet I. Egan |
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