[TheForge] Rant, was: 1045 uses

Wed Feb 26 18:10:05 2003

Shit on a stick by any other name still stinks.  Eventually the bull
shit and insincerety as well as bad work gets exposed for what it
really is.  You can fool some of the people some of the time... Much
of "the public" is gullible, but aren't we all at some level.  As with
many other subjects that people feel strongly about (craft vs art,
traditional vs modern technique, and even blown vs naturally
aspirated) the difference between what is honest expression and empty
rehetoric, right and wrong, good and bad, is not black and white.  It
involves things like intention, skill, expression, on the part of the
author and interpretation as well as all kinds of other subjective
likes and dislikes on the part of the consumer/user/audience.  Things
in these relms affect us beyond spoken language.  Often words are
inadequate to describe our response but it seems important to try.
There will always be artists and charlatans.  Perhaps part of the
purpose of life is to try to see the difference.  What was it that St
Francis said:  ..."Give me the wisdom to tell the difference" or "All
words are lies--including these"?

End of rant.

-Rick Korinek
Emerald City Forge
Framingham, MA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Freeman" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 12:56 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Re: 1045 uses

> Mike,
>
> You missed my point.  This was not criticism but high compliment!
>
> Artso-babble is how artists inspire interest, respect, and desire to
> spend money in the marks - er - I mean in the art-loving public!
You
> can sell shit on a stick for a fortune with the appropriate
> artso-babble.  Why, I seriously proposed some months ago that those
> among us who can actually make something worthwhile at the forge
could
> collaborate with those among us practiced in wordsmithing, and
together
> we could multiply the value of all objects created!
>
> Gotta put a positive spin on things!!!
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
> >>> [email protected] 02/26/03 12:47PM >>>
>
> Charles wrote:
>
> Ch> This sort of recycling is a graphic and gratifying testament to
> Ch> the inheritly plastic and transmutable nature of metal, at odds
> Ch> with what the eyes and hands are telling you.  o many, a spike
> Ch> knife is no longer an inanimate object, but a living one, moving
> Ch> from one state to another.  Frozen in time....
> Ch> [snip]
>
> And Bruce replied:
>
> Br> That's a nearly perfect bit of artso-babble....
>
> I don't think so.  I've said almost exactly the same thing [1],
albeit
> less simply and clearly.  I believe I know art babble when I see it.
> Beating intricate stuff out of hot iron would be too tedious for
words
> if it weren't for the stimulus to "philosophic" speculation and
> contemplation that it offers.
>
> Well, okay:  Personally, I don't like the "alive" metaphor but it's
a
> perfectly good one and worthy of further thought.
>
> Philosophy and art are not bogus domains made up of empty words,
> even if a significant (large?) fraction of the people who hang out
> Philosopher or Artist shingles think so and write accordingly.
>
> - Mike
>
> ---
> [1] http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/hotiron.html
>
> --
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada
>
> [email protected]
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/
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