Originally Posted by
RC65
Merlin, I appreciate the thought that went into your post and your defensive comments r.e. your friend are well-taken, but art -- whether it's fiction or visual -- inherently demands a reaction from its public. Art is not only subjective, as you rightly point out, but it's reliant upon a personal interpretive interaction with an individual(s); without an audience, art cannot truly exist. I'm not sure how an audience can truthfully comment on any art -- a Chadbourne sketch or a King novel, etc. -- without expressing that personal interpretation. In my mind, any perceived consensus in these quarters about Chadbourne's art isn't symptomatic of a thoughtless pile-on that disregards the feelings or reputation of the artist, but rather simply a shared interpretation. Should that shared interpretation be tempered in public expression? I'd suggest a forum environment that focuses specifically on art -- i.e. King's work -- and one's opinions on it is precisely the appropriate environment. That said, comments that are either more about the artist than the art or are designed to belittle rather than inform clearly have no place in a respectful forum like TDT. To my mind, though, I haven't seen comments of that type here.