From: Fred Camper (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Mar 12 2006 - 19:58:31 PST
Thanks to Patrick Friel for the correction. I knew this, and mistyped.
David,
Aside from the dissing of Milton Babbitt (spelled with two ts, please
note), I don't disagree with most of what you posted, or disagree only
in terms of emphasis. I would never rule out the possibility of (a) a
fly fisherman somewhere whose book on the subject is sublime and
convinces me that for him the act was an art or (b) a fly-tier who was
completely inarticulate on the subject but whose flies, when I saw them
exhibited somewhere, struck me as great art. I might think these are
less likely than you do, but that's a question of degree. Similarly, I'm
more dubious of the value and interest of some of the "commentary"
exhibitions or video viewing you posit, but I wouldn't absolutely deny
the possibility that one of those might be of interest, or that a video
of a film I love won't transmit some of it. For many or most films I
care about, I'm sure that some of what I love does survive in video. I
do agree with you that a diversity of types of film on film screenings
is a good thing, and something to be desired.
There are a surprising number of people in the arts and in avant-garde
film who think Brian Wilson is great. I'll take credit for "discovering"
him and his, um, group for myself circa 1965, when my friends laughed at
me a bit for it before they changed their minds.
"one valid reason for displaying art is to take a kind of purposefully
creative crap on it, or on the notion of 'high art' in general. (L.O.H.Q.)"
Here I did want to make a correction. First, the title is "L. H. O. O.
Q" -- and the letters and their order are important, because when
pronounced in French they make an obscene pun-commentary on the Mona
Lisa, "She has a hot ass." But more, I think Duchamp's gesture here
involves much more than "creative crap." It's an art work that has to be
seen in the context of his other work, and in that context I think it's
rather great. But I'm no Duchamp expert and am not going to be able to
say a whole lot more about this.
Fred Camper
Chicago
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