You guys have got to see this guy's prints.....

[Flotsam]

Believe it or not but there are still people out there that cannot appreciate the genius of "Dogs playing Poker".
Michael

An original "Dogs Playing Poker" painting sold at auction recently for upwards of $100,000. I only hope that it will be suitably displayed on the Knotty Pine paneled wall of a tract house Rec Room as so many thousands of its reproductions have.

[jjstafford]

To me, this a boderline rascist comment.
Art.

I can't let that stand because it is simply unfair, and not to me in particular, but because you presume I do not understand, or am unsympathetic to the particular esthetic. I am neither. Nor are most others who understand and aren't impressed by this particular work in its particular place.

It does not work promote one's ethnic credence by creating a strawman, for example Eurocentricism; instead one could take the high ground and explain how the gentleman's art fits into the scheme of photography, possibly how it blends two cultures through a modern medium. To me it is a conflicting work - emphasizing the original spacial qualities while manufacturing and therefore throwing out the entirely unappreciated brush work esthetic that IS the art in question.

[gr82bart]

The value of art, like anything else is a mishmash.

I wouldn't pay $100k for Dogs Playing Cards, even though I kinda like the painting - it's amusing to me. You couldn't PAY me to eat a McDonald's, but I'll spend a fortune at a top NYC restaurant where the space on the plate is more than the footprint of the actual food and I'll be snobby about it too. I'll complain about the $2.40 per gallon gas which drives a machine that was engineered and manufactured using even more engineered machines and processes and delivered to me via a logistical network of processes and thousands of people across several continents, but how many times have I bought coffee at $339.20 per gallon, grown and picked by Juan Valdez and distributed to the local Starbucks? And what about movies? I'm sure the women (from my experiences) LOVE the English Patient and 'value' it, whereas we know just how much men love this 'chick flick'.

You all get the point. To make absolute statements that I've read here is just funny.

Art.

[gr82bart]

but because you presume I do not understand, or am unsympathetic to the particular esthetic.

Actually, it is because you DO understand that I make that statement. I mean read what you wrote again. There is an assumption of 'cultural superiority' in it.

Nor are most others who understand and aren't impressed by this particular work in its particular place.

Out of curiosity who are 'these' people? I would honestly be interested in reading their critique, to get a better understanding.

Art.

[jd callow]

To make absolute statements that I've read here is just funny.

and telling.

[jjstafford]

Actually, it is because you DO understand that I make that statement. I mean read what you wrote again. There is an assumption of 'cultural superiority' in it.

You might be right. I could be stuck at Oxford in my mind. It would be very helpufull to have artists from other cultures give their view. (I answered your question there, too.)

[Helen B]

Art wrote:"And what about movies? I'm sure the women (from my experiences) LOVE the English Patient and 'value' it, whereas we know just how much men love this 'chick flick'."

There are women who liked The English Patient? I could be biased, of course. I saw it in Singapore where it was censored. I guess that they cut out the wild sex scenes that would appeal to us girlies.

Best,
Helen

[gr82bart]

I guess that they cut out the wild sex scenes that would appeal to us girlies.

I must have slept through it...

Art.

[Helen B]

You're lucky. I feel obliged to sit there and study every frame carefully.

Best,
Helen
Er, but seriously, there were no wild sex scenes to remove of course - it's amazing that a film like that gets censored at all.