Thursday, November 15, 2007

Philip Evergood, who was a representational painter, opined that "Any art that has imagination has the "magic touch" and expresses universal truths, which man can feel and understand, is valid - is Art. Only people and time will decide what is great." Amen!
Those of us who have misspent our youth following the business of making art know that" life is short" and as Edward Hooper cynically noted of artists in general, "Ninety per cent of them are forgotten ten minutes after they are dead. We are no longer certain that "...Art is long." Evergood noted that in our atomic age, the "lasting" value of all the works of man is hardly in the hands of artists, "...only the diplomats and military leaders will decide what is to last."

Those who live by the axiom that the artist should "Make Love Not Profit!" are a fortunate few, and these are the folk who love word smithery to the exclusion of reason. Some are skilled amateurs with an education in art rather than the skills and instincts needed by an artist to survive in the art jungle. They are typically retirees from other work more congenial to their skills. A secure pension has an insulating vale, feathering the nest from a need to do business.

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