goddammit duchamp

 so, the famous criticism of much modern and post-modern art, from pollocks' drip canvases and duchamps' readymades, to weberns' pointillism and john cages' conceptual and aleatoric procedures, is 'my child could do that,' to which the not-quite-so-famous response is, 'yes, but they didn't.' the life experience of the artist made their decision to work in this way or that all the more interesting (important? meaningful?). i still chew on the anecdote of a woman who, seeing an elderly picasso in the park, approached him and asked if he'd sketch her--some balls. the old man obliged, showed her his work and said, 'that will be five thousand dollars.' the lady was aghast and argued that it had taken him only seconds to make. he is said to have replied: 'madam, it took me my whole life to make that sketch.'cut to today, where we watch amazing amounts of trash television, filled with untalented people doing whatever it is they do--and not particularly well--and waiting for people to spiral out of control like charlie sheen or britney spears. music is churned out like mediocre sausages, and every beach town is filled with paintings of beach towns, bottles melted into coasters, and artisan cutting boards.if the challenge of 50s art was that anyone could do, but only one person did, a lot of our present culture can be seen as a direct result of people taking up that challenge. i have on my phone all the necessary means to make a soundcloud worthy dance track, and that's not a slander to folks that do that. one photographer friend of mine refuses to use the particular tricks that make terry richardson photos look the way they do, even though (and maybe precisely because) that too is possible on her smart phone.it looks as though people are tiring of being told what to think about their culture by their culture, or at least are less interested in eating the same cultural meal every night of the week. i think people will continue to seek new and interesting art that is executed by someone or several someone's who deeply care and want to make it right. since everyone can make this stuff, and make it sound (look/taste/etc) good, the things that separate the good from the great will become more pronounced. precisely because people have some understanding of how the thing is built, their appreciation for a well-built version is heightened.i admire, respect, and seek the friendship of people trying to make whatever it is that they make better.