(e:ajay) - Does art need explanation? I would like to go further and ask, "Does art need meaning to be considered art?"

If art is art, then it doesn't matter where its staged. My father was up here last Monday and he thought that our downstair neighbors ashtray had the butts arranged in an interesting pattern, so he took a picture of it... for him that was art.

(e:Drchlorine) said something interesting and worth repeating -

:Another loser: the intentional alienation of the audience. You can convey the ideas of alienation or confusion without actually alienating or confusing your audience. Employing metaphors and giving NO CLUE as to their meaning anywhere else in the work is one way that artists may commit this foul. Any art that does this without allowing the concession of "the components are open to interpretation" is a sham. You can find the same sort of Tom-foolery from authors of theoretical or philosophical texts. These egg-heads intentionally make their work incomprehensible, knowing full well that if anyone outside of their academic priesthood knew what the hell they were saying, they'd be out of the job.

Something that is intrinsic in its beauty doesn't need explanation, but if an artist creates something that is intentionally devoid of meaning what is it other than just an odd combination of ingredients and nothing more? As far as I'm concerned, art in the classification that Dr. C outlined is nothing more than a shop project. If people can't find beauty or meaning in a piece of art then it isn't art. The worst kind of "art" is the kind in the italicized quote above... people want to see what YOU have to say as an artist - they don't care about what THEY have to say as viewers of art because they already knew that before they showed up to see your installation.

(e:Southernyankee) Hi. :) I'm actually going to be starting a new training routine soon so I can sympathize - the one used by the U.S. Army Rangers. Maybe thats a little hardcore, but the only thing I can think of offhand is the usual generic advice of starting small and working your way up. I think its very cool that you are doing that bikeride - if you ask me completing something like that is a big accomplishment, and I for one am hella impressed!

e-strippers - I made an abhorration of a smoothie today and I need some advice. I used bananas, plums, some odd cross between a tangerine and an orange, ice and some pre-fab mixed juice. The taste is pleasant, if not a bit too tart for me... but visually the smoothie looks like someone dropped flecks of truffle into my drink. Gross... Any ideas for some different fruit combos for a kick ass smoothie?

(e:Jasonsback) - Fuck off! I'm not evil. I'm Machiavellian, self-confident and monolithic but not evil! :)

Anyhow I'm not particularly concerned with being "accepted" - that is shit that high school kids worry about. I'm just here to chat. If I were gagging for love and acceptance I would get a puppy.

(e:angryshortkid) - I somewhat share in your pain. What I'm interested in is whether or not a certain % decrease in payroll will end up reflecting in an equal % decrease in ticket prices here. In some markets hockey will always be expensive to watch, but I think to an extent hockey has gotten to be an expensive ("expensive" being relative) commodity here. I still have my stub from the '97 playoffs where we sat in the corner, 4 rows from the ice - $45. that same seat 3 years later - us vs. The Pens (Haseks last game as a Sabre!) cost $110 a seat. The bottom line is that families are priced out of regular attendance, yet families are really the NHL's key demographic in small markets.

What stinks even worse about this, IMO, is the infrastructure thats affected by the lack of NHL hockey here. Lots of businesses and various establishments count on that seasonal revenue, and in our case we had an entire sports network disappear simply because their ace in the hole was the Sabres. Loss of money, loss of jobs... not a happy time for us regardless if you are a sports fan or not.

(e:Hodown) - insofar as there is a measured number of New Yorkers who hated it, I think their estimation was correct. :) People who happen to appreciate the manhours and can somehow derive some sort of artistic merit are also more than welcome to their opinion and I certainly respect it. However lets not pretend that there aren't a measured number of New Yorkers who aren't EXACTLY as I described. I know that the funding was entirely the artists, but for me "patronizing" means more than just paying for things, so I suppose I should have been more clear. If you go to Albright-Knox on Sundays for free, or any other gallery, you are patronizing the arts by attending. Maybe I generalized but like I said, I was being cynical! :P I think tourists will dig it because it will be something interesting to photograph. Tourists always have been and always will be ubiquitous in New York, don't rough them up too bad! Haha. :)

Personally, the work of art that Manhattan has coming to it that will dwarf this particular installation in beauty and importance is the replacement complex for the WTC.

(e:Matthew) - my twin and I never really did any of the cool things twins do, like swap out on dates. Its a shame! However, I do usually do all kinds of dirty work for him so I suppose it evens out. I assure you that my twin is no designer imposter, he is very real.

... New Yorkers, that is, in reference to "The Gates." This is probably the most absurd abuse of good steel and fabric that I've ever seen in my entire life, and I have abused a lot of steel and fabric. This tepid and vapid excuse for art has taken NYC by storm, and the hilarious thing is that New Yorkers are too obsessed with looking hip to actually say what they think about it. The American art patronizing community hasn't been this hardcore bamboozled since "Piss Jesus." Orange colored steel and fabric (goddamnit Josh its SAFFRON) yeah fuck off, its orange, multiplied manyfold and mass-produced like they rolled off the Ford plant in Detroit does not art make. You know what, I'm feeling frisky today. Give ME that $21 million. I'd be happy to make an artistic statement by erecting the Golden Arches in Niagara Square then hang shower curtains off of it... and take the other $20,990,000 and run the hell away before somebody actually catches on.

Oh, and before anybody asks me - "What is art to you then, Josh?" Art is art when I say its art... period, end of sentence. Welcome to my cynical side.

In unrelated news - The America's Cup. Who doesn't care... except, um... everybody? This would normally not register with me, but amazingly enough somebody in this quasi-sport for the obscenely rich actually HIT A WHALE WITH THEIR YACHT. Ok... somebody speed me up here. How did this whale manage to creep up on this poor, innocent unsuspecting yacht? Its not as if it could have jumped out of the bush Viet-Cong style, guns blazing, hoping to wreak massive carnage. I think some fat guy wearing ye ol' captains hat tipped back the Dom P a little too much behind the wheel. Somebody this stupid definitely merits an ending worthy of a Darwin Award.