Possumblog

That'll leave a mark.

Picked up a copy of one of our two local alt-weeklies yesterday down in the snack bar. First article, Letters to the Editor, a feature I have come to abhor in any publication (and one of the chief reasons I let my subscription to National Geographic lapse) because the letters are invariably full of ill-considered invective, poor grammar, and fallacious reasoning. Still not quite sure which party that makes look worse--the publication, or the people who read it.

ANYway, I figured I'd read the letters, mainly because I'd spotted some rather lengthy rebuttals from the editor included in the mix.

Friends, this is simply precious.

One snippet of snippiness:

[...] In a single paragraph he dismisses the idea that meaning is relative. Here's a clue, EVERYTHING is relative. Einstein, anyone? The "objective standards" for judging art, or hating it as the writer does, do not exist. My bet is that the writer scanned Michel Foucault's The Postmodern Condition, struggled with a few pages, and then decided it was a "swindle." How intellectually lazy can you get? [...]

...and the smell of gunpowder in return:

[...] 2. It may be that everything is relative, which makes Mr. Deman's claim that no objective standards exist a subjective one, and thus relative. (Say, maybe he's onto something!) But Einstein's General and Special Theories of Relativity do not in any way pertain to cognitive or moral relativism. I don't even know how that's possible. But it's fun to think about. [...]

4. I did indeed struggle with The Postmodern Condition, but it's hardly fair to blame Foucault, since he didn't write it. Jean-François Lyotard did.

Cat claws:

[...] he was pretty nervy to take on the likes of Museum of Modern Art curators and well-known art historians in his heavy-handed attempt to slash and burn all associated with minimalist art. His protestations are frankly quite telling. Mr. Pelfrey's talents might be better suited to reviewing a Normal Rockwell exhibit should one ever come to town. In the future, when a more sophisticated exhibit is shown here, perhaps you could be encouraged to find someone to review it who actually knows something about contemporary art. [...]

Cat o' nine tails:

[...] Ms. English presupposes a superiority of mind for academics and curators, while relegating us outsiders to a Norman Rockwell exhibit. Such a provincial and facile equation is, frankly, quite telling. [...]

High dudgeon:

[...] You are wasting MY seven minutes with your article, and encouraging ignorance in the citizens of Birmingham. Being challenged by the content and presentation of art is a fundamental part of any aesthetically engaged culture. CULTURAL FRAUD is dismissing difficult art as a swindle. CULTURAL FRAUD is decrying experimentation as a waste and calling for a return to familiarity and safety in our art. [...]

Sounds a lot like Rick Willson Ellensburg Gleen Greenwald.

Return fire:

[...] Contrary to Mr. Horn's severely limited analysis, I certainly wasn't "calling for a return to familiarity and safety in our art." I never suggested that the works were challenging or difficult. I look forward to the day when any of those three artists can surprise, challenge, or alarm me. In fact, whenever someone tells me that they find the work of Judd, Anastasi, or Sandback "challenging," I feel mildly embarrassed for the individual making that claim. [...]

It's such an entertaining read--do yourself a favor and read it all. And I shouldn't do this, because it's impolite to give away the ending of such a fun diversion, but the last paragraph is nothing short of perfect for the task at hand:

[...] Beyond that, for the reader who genuflects at the altar of curators and scholars but calls me shallow, for the reader who claims that my ideas derive from inexcusable ignorance and then calls me a Nazi, and for the reader who says that no informed person can take exception to Donald Judd's work and then calls me a bigot, I offer the supreme post-structuralist reply: I know you are, but what am I?

Mr. Pelfrey, a salute to you, sir. Keep up the good fight.