A few weeks ago someone paid a boatload of money for the world's most expensive photograph. Personally, I thought is wasn't even an interesting snapshot. It didn't evoke any feelings when I looked at it. Not even technical interest.
Decades ago, when I was in high-school, I had a part-time job in an interesting store. One half of the store was devoted to selling cameras and film. The other half of the store was devoted to selling greeting cards and party goods. This was a pretty successful combination. The store was part of chain that covered several states. The two central, if not biggest companies, were Kodak and Hallmark. You might think that the primary products were cameras, film and greeting cards. Those were, in fact, the physical goods. What I learned, at that early stage of my life, was that both companies were selling memories and good feelings. People bought those products because it made them feel good. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but there is a lot of money floating around and driving our economy that is just spent for that sake of making people feel good. Kinkade's paintings play on the same nostalgic feelings as the greeting cards. In fact, the last time I went into a Hallmark Gold store there were several boxes of cards with reproductions of his paintings on the covers. He found a way to make people feel good with his paintings. If that's what those paintings do, so be it. Far be it from me to judge the guy. gs George Sinos -------------------- [email protected] www.georgesphotos.net plus.georgesinos.com On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Bob W <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > sure, if you think making money out of shit is the be-all and end- >> all, >> > but his work is still shit and it will always be dismissed as shit by >> > people who know shit from shinola. >> > >> > B >> >> Bob, >> >> You and I both work in IT and myself specifically in software >> development. You don't think we've made money out of shit/shinola? >> >> I frequently think that if I could get paid the same to shovel manure >> in horse stables, I'd rather shovel manure. Because I'm basically just >> shoveling a different kind of manure every day, and it's far more >> stressful than horse-shit. > > Shovelling manure in a stable is an honest, decent job not to be looked down > on, and I expect it has its own share of stress. The family who lived in my > house in 1901 made their living working in the London Transport stables. > Working in IT is also an honest, decent job, by and large, even if we only > do it to make a living and a profit for some fat cat somewhere. > > Making money by dishonestly peddling shit as if it were something better is > not an honourable, decent job, it's taking advantage of people. Paintings > such as Thomas Kinkade's are shit glorified by his marketers and advertising > men, who are the worst kind of pimps because they push the idea that it is > on a par with work by people like Constable, or Jackson Pollock or even > Stephen Shore, and that it's just snobbery and prejudice that makes people > like me look down on it. > > This is like telling people that Sunny Delight is as good as Puligny > Montrachet. It isn't. It appeals to the undeveloped taste of children. > Children have an excuse, but eventually they should grow up, educate their > tastes and stop liking stuff just because it tastes sugary and sparkles > brightly. Their lives will be massively richer for it. Liking Thomas > Kinkade's work is arrested development. > > B > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
