Is your life normal? Mine's not. Here's an unedited letter to the editor regarding last week's review.
Hello Franklin,
I am writing to you to help you understand something that might give you some insight into the show SKINS. I spoke to a few people and they told me how you ragged on them and you thought the show sucked. I would agree with you to an extent. Most of the work was second rate. I was in the Skins show. We were the ones that you failed to mention in your article.We did a small pamphlet called AFRIZA for the Skins show.
But back to the matter at hand. I think your critique is a little old fashion and big words only reveal the inner workings of neediness. I also was not planning to respond to you for I knew what you were saying was partially true and that you were a waste like most of us. But then a good friend called me and told me to go to your website and check out your work. This work is a little embarassing, if you catch my drift. That sketchy self portrait stuff you do, went out when Van Gogh's ear came off and his brains splattered the wall, a few years later. He himself knew how far it would go.
I would of loved it if you gave a strong critique and could back it up. But your work is very similar to the academic style you were complaining about, except your's has something to do portraiture which is embarassing and more pathetic for it's a 100 years late. Anyways the people that did what you do now, well are dead - Pierre Bonnard.
You really should think about how you are discouraging artists and putting them down. These artists are not going to stop making things. By you putting them down, you will only make them feel the little attempt they have in their lives is a waste. And be careful. Any of these artists might see you and your boy friend walking down the street and want to stick a sable brush through your ear and into your brain, while he pisses down your boy friend's throat.
So, just really try to have a sensitive heart to what you are doing with your positon as an art critic. For these artist are just people trying like you and me to make their lives bareable.So, back off and have a little compassion for struggle. Put down the thesaurus, genius and help people that are struggling much like you & me are with inadequacy.
This is from two artists from the Skins
show who go by Zolarcon Technologies. Their real names are Luis Campos and Neil Whitacre. Let me get this straight, guys - even you two think that the show was weak, but I shouldn't say so, because someone might go postal on me? Best of luck to you, boys.
But wait, there's more. It looks like one of my defenders (whom I don't know from Adam) is using Ms. Crabby's identity to harangue some of my detractors. I've checked in with Ms. Crabby herself, and she hasn't contacted anyone regarding anything. If you're getting mail from Ms. Crabby, you're not.
Once Dave Barry wrote about the DeSillers Effect, which causes events in Miami to be derailed off of a normal course. Maria DeSillers was a Miamian whose son needed dire medical treatment, and she appealed to the community for financial help. Sadly, the boy died. In a normal scenario, she would have sent the money back with thank-you notes. Instead, this being Miami, she took the cash and went shopping, explaining to an outraged public that her son would have wanted her to have all those nice new things from the mall. The DeSillers Effect explains a lot, like why Miami International Airport has been under construction since my family moved here 26 years ago, for instance.
In a normal course of events, I'd write a negative review, people would complain, I'd post the letters, and we'd move on. Instead, because of the DeSillers Effect, I'm obliged to say two things. One, whoever is calling himself Ms. Crabby needs to chill. Seriously - knock it off. Two, the artists I reviewed and their supporters might want to try defending their artwork. Just a thought. Only one has so far - Kyle Towbridge's letter is up now.
Despite the vitriol poured in my direction, I'm enjoying this. So is Brook Dorsch, who believes the ice has been cracked a little by this public disagreement. I'm grateful that my article struck a nerve. My inner critic is thrilled, but I don't want to keep seeing my name up on the Exchange all the time. If you can write, review a show and send the piece in. Maybe you can strike a nerve too.
I'm curious to see what happens down here. Miami is the Next Big Thing in the art world. In a normal course of events, there'd be a proliferation of galleries, artists would gobble up cheap real estate and prosper, and the glossy art magazines would be falling over themselves to cover the local scene. Everything is right on schedule. But then there's the DeSillers Effect. Brace yourself.
