Michael Chabon has a very good piece here, a piece I think most people here will agree with. I think we should all carry copies of this around and staple gun them to the foreheads of those who think we 'waste' our time with the things we love.
It's a good piece, but I'll have to think about a bit. I agree with the basic theme. What I'm not sure about is whether all artists are really 'entertainers' at their core. Not that it matters to me. I'm pretty unapologetic about the things I waste my time on. I probably cared when I was younger (why else would I have read Hesse's Siddartha?), but somewhere I morphed into that old guy who doesn't give a shit as he waves his fist at those young snobby art-punks camped on his lawn with their shoulder-packs full of angst and Starbucks giftcards. The old guy knows that he can like his water rocket, his copy of F.E.A.R., Mickey Mouse's ears, and his dog-eared Riverworld series (well, books one and two anyways) - all the while enjoying the hell out of (some) Baroque music and Canova's Pschye.
Now - if you'll excuse me I have to get back to re-playing the Indiana Jones trailer.
Being a kid at heart is what I think binds all of us here together.
I'm not sure all artists need to 'entertain', but at least 'engage', which in itself should be entertaining on some level.
I really enjoyed Chabon's piece. You can sense his anger at the art snobs, but also his disdain of them. I remember one particular art snob I knew who was shocked at how much she loved 'Kavalier and Clay', even though it was about something as lowbrow as comics. I'm sure it wasn't one of the books she kept faced on her bookshelf afterwards.
2 comments:
It's a good piece, but I'll have to think about a bit. I agree with the basic theme. What I'm not sure about is whether all artists are really 'entertainers' at their core. Not that it matters to me. I'm pretty unapologetic about the things I waste my time on. I probably cared when I was younger (why else would I have read Hesse's Siddartha?), but somewhere I morphed into that old guy who doesn't give a shit as he waves his fist at those young snobby art-punks camped on his lawn with their shoulder-packs full of angst and Starbucks giftcards. The old guy knows that he can like his water rocket, his copy of F.E.A.R., Mickey Mouse's ears, and his dog-eared Riverworld series (well, books one and two anyways) - all the while enjoying the hell out of (some) Baroque music and Canova's Pschye.
Now - if you'll excuse me I have to get back to re-playing the Indiana Jones trailer.
Being a kid at heart is what I think binds all of us here together.
I'm not sure all artists need to 'entertain', but at least 'engage', which in itself should be entertaining on some level.
I really enjoyed Chabon's piece. You can sense his anger at the art snobs, but also his disdain of them. I remember one particular art snob I knew who was shocked at how much she loved 'Kavalier and Clay', even though it was about something as lowbrow as comics. I'm sure it wasn't one of the books she kept faced on her bookshelf afterwards.
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