carving ethics

["scott goniea" <scottgoniea@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi,

My first time responding, so I thought that I would fuel the fire.  Clive
has argued the point very well about purists vs. creating and then sending
work out vs. "productionists"  (e.g. Brancusi, Moore, & Koons).  My thoughts
turn to the values of our society and how we value such work.

Because we have purists, like Brancusi and Michelangelo who worked
independently and worked hard, they chose only to invest time into creating
probably their best at the time.  Imagine if they had the tools we have
today the number of works they could have produced!  However, their body of
work remains and they are a finite number of treasures left to the world.

With sculptors like Moore and Rodin, we see that their creativity became
excelerated because the time retraints we loosened and they were able to
have artists put in the long, hard hours for them.  Does the work become
devalued because of this?   I would have to say yes, in part.  The later
works can be admired for their creative leaps and bounds and for the
concept, but the master removed his hands and even though the work is still
masterfully completed, it is lesser in some ways.
However, without being freed up, they might not have been able to push
themselves creatively.  Calder on the other hand, worked with "easier"
materials himself and was able to create thousands of pieces of many sizes
(monumental works aside), that broke down the traditional boundaries of
sculpture. Bravo!

Now Koons, as an artist in our consumer driven, detached society, is playing
the right tune for the song he wants to create.  He doesn't claim to be much
more than what he says and for what he does say about art in our time, I can
respect that.  I enjoy some of his work (the cleaner stuff) and it makes for
great conversations about what art has become.  Art reflects society and his
especially.  But I certainly don't value many aspects of his work ethics or
images, heck I don't value many things about society, so that's where I
leave it.

What I want out of my work, ethically and value-wise, I put into it and the
tools I choose will reflect that.  Maybe one day when I am old and if I am
famous enough to have another do the labor, the value will shift, but I
suspect that creatively and conceptually that will balance out what I might
no longer be able to contribute physically.  Sorry for the long-winded
response.

Scott