Shit. I am so bummed to have missed that. Whatever I was doing at the time seemed more important, and despite only being yesterday, I don't even remember what that was.

Jen,

It surely was a moment with moment. I recall Timothy Leary coming to the UW Hub auditorium in the late sixties (as a guru of new culture) pontificating amongst many things, “ tune in, turn on, drop out!” I was so surprised that McCarthy appeared to be of my generation and so cool and Jackson had, beyond his gifts of art, the gift of a standup comedian. It was a wonderful experience. These two artist’s work seems to remain rather new and what has followed seems to often be a copying of something done already.

I was going to ask a question there but was in one of my reserved moods. I was ever so curious about what either of them thought of what was going on in the current art scene. They seemed so stuck in their time which is maybe understandable because one can often feel that what is going on these days is a kind of repetition or homage to what so many greats of their time and earlier brought to us. They didn’t seem to say peep about current art. (Jackson did make a sweeping condemnation of much of conventional art and of minimalism.) Then again they are wedded to their own visions in a profound way.

McCarthy gave numerous plugs to Bruce Nauman as an inspiration to his work. McCarthy and Jackson seem to be early leaders and so much of what is current seems a footnote to what has been. Sometimes one wonders if and when there might be a major shift or discovery of something truly new and astounding in the art world as these two gave us. Then again, maybe it has truly happened many times of recent.

Also, I was a bit curious about how utterly dull the questions from the moderator seemed. Maybe I’m missing something but it sure seems there’s a major disconnect between the coolness of many a great artist and their point of view and the stayed conservative nature and posture of the representatives of so many museums. I guess I understand the political realities but it really seems like two different worlds, like the thing about the local personality who dared to alter Yoko Ono’s piece and the oh so official institutional response. Remarkable contrasts. Is Museology up to the task? Is it necessarily lacking soul here? One can only ponder.

I would think from the perspective of McCarthy and Jackson, one could ask has the contemporary arbiters of the art scene really learned anything from the lessons of the artists who set out to change things and are things changing as much as they once seemed to? Has the system sold out? Jackson’s noting that there was a wonderful time when he and his cohorts were doing art not because it got them anywhere in the art world but because they just got off doing it was so grand.

Would the FAA allow Jackson to crash a radio controlled Cessna filled with paint into something as a way to create an abstract painting?

So curious!!!!

Thanks for your continuing contributions to the scene.

GFinholt

GRHATE ARTISTS.

SO IMPORTANT FOR SKULLDUCKERY. UNFORTUNATELY THE PAST, DICKSUCKIN LIPS, MUSEOLOGY, AND OTHA FACTORS HAZ CONSPIRED AGAINST ENLIGHTENMENT.

U WILL NEVER GIT THURRR.