cultural relevance?

[Norman Watts <Norman_Watts@zzzzzzz>]

Well, I'm really distressed. I've read and reread the responses to the
question on cultural relevance. Expectedly, individuals differ in how
important they view this issue: it runs the gamut from
its-really-only-about-what-it-means-to-you-personally, to
its-about-what-it-means-to-a-select-few-who-react, to
its-key-but-you-have-to-ask-whether-it-is-Australian-or-European-or-
American-or-Aboriginal. And a few thoughts about great art. I can't
help but feel something essential is still missing. Surely, I don't
believe there to be a whit of real cultural difference between Europe,
America and Australia, or most of Asia either. Except for a few deep
pockets lost in the woods here and there we all are part of a world
where shuttles go up, Trade Centers come down, and we obtain our
products and ideas from a few companies. I'm more wondering if we do in
fact know what our art now is saying, about us and to us, that the art
of people two thousand years ago didn't, and that the art of people two
thousand years from now won't. I apologize for harping on this, but if
need be, hit the delete button.

I should add, I have absolutely no ambitions regarding the making of
relevant art, just as I have no ambitions for doing great science. I do
this because I enjoy the craftsmanship. A more polished surface or
cleaner data, it feels the same to me. But I'm still fascinated by this
mysterious "other" as Bill Urmenyi calls it.

Also, and I don't know where to put this in its appropriate context, I
know what George meant with some pieces touching us. I was in
Whitehorse, in the Canadian Yukon, after an attempt on Mt Logan last
spring. As I wandered around the trashy trinkets I came to a gallery
selling carvings by the people from Cape Dorset. Lots of stuff was nice
but one bear, about 14 inches high, had so much explosive power in it
that it moved me to tears and I had to leave the store to avoid
embarrassing myself. So what was going on? Was I in a suggestible state
 from being on vacation? Over-awake from almost 24 hours of daylight? Or
was this one piece more than the stone equivalent of a cartoon?