28 February 2007

late for the party

Once again, Alec Soth has a smarter, funnier and better-researched response to the Jeff Wall press. I’m now going through and reading a lot of blogs by very defensive photographers, and gearing myself up for a fight (if only with myself.) So much of the arguments are infuriating, with the bulk of them saying the same things:

1. “Real” life is more complex and, yes, better than Artifice (to which I say they have an inflated sense of how Real photojournalism is)

2. Why is the Grand Old Tradition of Street Photography unpopular in favor of the Big Fake Pictures? (Which makes me amazed at how little they understand the whims and fashions of the Art Market, as it has gone for a Very Long Time now…)

3. Look how many Crazy Dollar$ those things go for! (Um, yeah, that Art Market thing…)

4. They’re only Important ‘coz they’re big

5. The Art World is full of fools

Can’t wait to get into the work myself…