On 12 May 2010 20:51, Mark Roberts <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Tom, perhaps what's bugging you about Eggleston's work subconsciously
> is that same thing that bugs me consciously about it. I'm not an
> Eggleston hater - quite the contrary, I find I have a greater
> appreciation for his work after seeing it in person and in a large
> collection. I see some pretty good ideas at play and some pretty good
> work resulting. What annoys me is the over-glorification of Eggleston
> by the art world. It's as if, after years of dismissing color
> photography, when the art snobs found one color photographer they
> liked they overreacted to the point of near-deification, compensating
> for past oversights by heaping excessive praise on work that didn't
> deserve it.
>
> In short, I think his work does deserve praise, but not the ridiculous
> adulation it's received from some quarters.
I think Mark has summed up my feelings here. I've never hated
Eggleston, I just didn't understand why others like him. Like I said a
number of times before Chicago, I really wanted to see the exhibit
because maybe seeing prints and taking time to look at a good chunk of
his work would help me understand. But it didn't. True, there are some
shots in there that I liked, but they were few and far between. When I
remarked to Stan how I quite liked his large portraits out in the
corridor, he said "I hate them, but I love the rest". So I learnt one
thing: Stan is the opposite of me. Ha ha.
I did come away with one thing, though. Like Christine said, Eggleston
has a knack for American Gothic and the bizarre, even if it's not
immediately apparent. Many of his photos had elements that made them
strangely unsettling, like the begining of a Friday the 13th movie,
when all is nice, calm and beautiful, just before Jason comes out and
hacks everyone to pieces. I could see putting a book together with all
of these Eggleston pics (which might have already been done) and
calling it a day. But like Mark said, the Art Snobs just keep going on
and on about it.
Summary of how I feel about Eggleston: If Stephen King were given a
camera, he'd take the photographs Eggleston takes.
--M.
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