File spoon-archives/avant-garde.archive/avant-garde_1996/96-06-16.223, message 119


Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 02:59:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: appropriation/self expression


Brent wrote:

> Well why _shouldn't_ we use this quality as an indicator of success?  I feel
> that art should act on some level as a transmitter of ideas and if an idea is 
> appropriated by a next generation of artists then there must be something of
> relevance to it felt by those actually producing art.  Successful movements
> are, i feel, movements that generate discussion and reaction and whose
> components either inspire or create a tension in the work of subsequent
> generations of artists. 

I guess my doubts about this have several reasons.  One is the fact that some 
of the things that affect me most deeply may not externalize their influence
in any traceable way.  In some sense, the more profound the influence, the 
harder it is to talk about, and the less likely it is that it will be 
recognizably externalized.  Then, I tend to be have a great affinity for
art that puts itself on the side of the ephemeral.  If one takes such art
seriously -- i.e. if one is influenced by it -- perpetuating it would be
a kind of anti-tribute (I know this is pretty self-contradictory, but there
it is).  Then, we just spent some time complaining about appropriation, and
now we are positing it as a sign of success.  Then, I have doubts about the
whole notion of "success".  What is it good for?  Why bother with it? 


-malgosia 


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