Is commercialism or self indulgence a greater threat to"art"?

[Neal Shields]

If ?art? touches something in a broad range of people, it will be commercially s uccessful, if it doesn?t it won?t. The taxpayers subsidize much of today?s ?art ?. After over 50 years of life, I have begun to be able to detect, by just look ing, ?art? that can?t stand on its own commercially.

I take pictures of what interests me and helps me tell the story, that I want to ld. I agree with those who say that they ?want to? and ?enjoy? taking picture n umber 413,942,975 of Half Dome. To my mind, not even St. Ansel, ?captured? Half Dome, but maybe 1000 years from now, some Girl Scout with that day?s Brownie wil l. (Won?t we all be surprised if it looks best shrouded in a cloud of pollution ?) When you pay for the camera and film, what you ?want? is the only justifica tion that you need. If you want someone else to pay for the camera, film or ren t, then you should be able to find at least one other person that is willing to use resources that they created, from the sweat of their brow, to subsidized you r efforts at ?art?. I don?t count finding someone that is willing to say that y our ?art? is good enough to subsidize with MY money.

Wouldn?t ?art? be better served if, instead of dispensing tax dollars to a polit ically well-connected elitist few, we just used the money so that every American could set aside one day to do ?art??

In America, at least, if you?re not willing to support your own artistic efforts by living the minimalist life style that can be obtained by working 20 hours a week cooking burgers, then maybe the problem isn?t what it costs to practice art , it is that down deep, you agree with the market.

Neal

[David F. Stein]

A few years ago, American Photographer run an issue of snapshots done with point and shoot cameras by "average," non-professional, consumer-grade, didn't think they were artist Americans. They were superb and demonstrated the vitality, energy, creativity, interest in life and passion of Us Folks. Here, technology triumphed, acquiring that seemlessmess between the thought "I'd like to get a picture of this" and the eloquent results. Photography is in good hands-and digital cameras will bring back or help preserve the spontaneity and fun of family and personal "not really for sale" photogra

[Ellis Vener]

Commercial success cannot be and should not be the judge of aesthethic merit or "artistic' content or value to a society.

Why is this? let's consider a different realm of artistic endeavor: music. Do you really bealieve that Michael Jackson or Brittney Spears is more important than recordings of work by Ludwig Van Beethoven's or Aaron Copland symphonies? Yet if you go by a criteria of what is commercially successful, those two "pop" stars sell more recordings in a week than the entire field of classical music sells in a year.

let's look at another field of "artistic" endeavor: the movie business. a movie like "Deep Throat" has made more money (i.e. been more commercially successful) than all ofthe great movies you can think of. Possibly in terms of the return to the original investors, possibly it has been more commercially successful than any other movie ever made. As a matter of fact the entire "sex industry" generates more money than all other forms of entetainment. Maybe we should stop building sports stadiums, movie theaters, concert halls and art museums andinvest in brothels instead.

I could go on, but I think you can follow the thread of my argument. Your argument is specious on the surface and hollow on the inside. Like porn and pop music it has shiny surface appeal but no substance. This isn't to denigrate porn or pop music, both actually have entertainment value, but the argument you are advancing is nothing but corrosive to any long range societal values. I just don't think that giving back the approximately ten cents a year that the average American citizen spends on "subsidizing" the arts in this country is going to encourage anyone to spend "one day" devoted to "doing' art.

Just because you or even possibly most American citizens don't immediate "get" a Philip Glass symphony, or a Diane Arbus photograph, or a quilt made by some woman in the West Virginia hills, doesn't mean it won't have value to others or even the majority of our society and culture a hundred years from now.

No one photographer is going to "capture" Half Dome (and by the way you do know that Ansel Adams was supported by US goverment commissions for much ofthe cretive part of hios career?) .On the other hand maybe you are on to something. What have really gotten out of the subsidy of space exploration except for Tang? and all this money we keep on spending on weapons, I mean really , what a waste. let's just drop the H-bomb on whoever annous us. Much more efficient don't you think! And the highways 7 bridges and other types of infra structure: Who needs to go anywhere now that we have Television and the world wide web? And isn't it abouttime that we stopped underwriting religion and got rid of the tax exempt status of the major religions. Think of all that property that could be put to better use, maybe as revenue generating brothels! And finally, doesn't everybody know that smoking cigarettes causes cancer, so why should we haveto pay for more cancer research? And damn it I'm tired of having to go through my life without ever tasting Whopping Crane. If nature cannot survive without a fedearal subsidy than maybe extinction is a good idea.

Ten cents a year is what you spend on subsidizing the arts. Wow what a high price, what an onerous burden.

[Neal Shields]

I think another way of phrasing my question would be: do we get better ?art? because we subsidize people to do it, that could do it on their own, if they were willing to make the personal sacrifices that it took? (?You have to suffer if you want to sing the blues?) If someone doesn?t think that their own ?art? is worth personal sacrifice, then how as a society can we ask the auto mechanic with three children to support someone else?s ?art??

I would, for example, feel more comfortable subsidizing fine art glass than photography, on the theory that no amount of personal sacrifice will enable the average person to afford the equipment that it takes to make works of art in glass.

The moral issues of taking the fruits of someone else?s labor and subsidizing something that enough like minded friends think is important, is useless to debate logically.

Some government expenditures provide virtually universally utilized services to individuals. In America, you benefit from roads even if you don?t drive. As wealthy and envied as this country is, most Americans can be said to benefit from national defense.

The space program separated from national defense, could to my mind, be classified as ?art?. What else would it be? However, if all one got out of the research that funded the space program is Tang, then they must live in a cave and eat bugs.

The Constitution basically provides the Federal Government with the authority to collect taxes and provide services, that everyone benefits from, and that cannot be provided otherwise. Even that can be said to be on moral thin ice.

Taxes are collect by threat of implied force. You either think it is ok to use force to subsidize art, or you don?t. I will not even go so far as to say that those that do, are wrong. However, I would never force someone to pay for a single sheet of 4X5 film for me, even if I knew that I could use it to ?capture? Half Dome better than Ansel Adams and I could not get it any other way.

I personally can?t get on board with the ?it?s not very much? argument when it comes to right or wrong. If a businessman defrauds 1 million people out of 10 cents each should we ignore his crime?

Also, ?some commercialism produces trash?, does not logically imply that all commercialism produces trash. Just as not all subsidies produce self-indulgent art. However, commercialism does shield us against self-indulgent art, if it is allowed to work.

If St. Ansel would have been an auto mechanic without government aid, then so be it. However, I suspect that his talent would have virtually forced him to be a photographer. Further, food clothing and shelter weren?t the economic cakewalk then that they are today in America. Back then you could be able and willing to work and get cold and hungry anyway.

While ten cents a day, might not fund an ?Art Day?, one half of the fruits of the average American?s labor is collected in taxes. Maybe we could take that ten cents and put something with it, and fund a day where everyone could be an ?artist?.

Neal

[Doug Paramore]

Note to Ellis: I tried Whooping Crane. It tastes a lot like Bald Eagle.

Regards,

[Chad Jarvis]

Another note to Ellis: we also got Velcro out of the space program. It tastes nothing like bald eagle.

[Marc]

I think we also got teflon out of the space program. If you cook any of the above on teflon it tastes like........chicken!

So if every thing always taste like chicken....why not just eat chicken?

But back to the original subject, sort of, until I get my check to produce my art, I want my ten cents back.

[e]

You guys are just a little old flock of Do Do birdies.Just kidding!

[Stpephen Willlard]

Perhaps we should require both.

I can remember when college loans were granted whit out any expectation of academic performance. Billions of tax dollars were wasted on a "few semesters of college parting". Only when loans were awarded based on performance did the waste stop and the money went to serious students.

My wife is a poet and has just submitted a collection of poems for a $25000 grant. To participate she has to be published in 20 different mags over a two year period. This restriction is part grant and part commercialism. It weeds out the rediculous and ensures that her art is aligned with the community. It grounds the art in reality. It dillutes the decission of foolish buearacrates and awards money to those who are truely committed to their art.

[Neal Shields]

Aside: according to my math, it is only a dime if you pay $1000 per year in income tax. If you're not living under a bridge and pay that kind of federal tax, please post your tax accountant's telephone number.

Neal