safety in numbers ...

enjoyed the weather of labor day - decided to treat myself to the september issue of 'art in america' - a magazine that generally gives one the pulse of what's going on in painting and sculpture - the expectation itself sets me up for failure - seduced by the image of stingel's installation at the whitney on the cover and a few of the thumb-throughs i began examining it in more detail. it became laborious. what ever happened to the momentum from the league of giants that preceded us only a generation or two ago - either i am or i'm getting too cynical, too old, too discriminating, too impatient or everything really is looking like a bad copy of pretty much everything i've seen before. granted, there are still a (watch) pocket full of some pretty amazing artists that produce some good stuff (when they get out of the way of their own mythology - ie., the fast track hype,image, and/or self deception), but for the most part i'm not seeing much more than student level work (and i'm not putting down the plato version of student). so i guess 'a in a' is still living up to its reputation of being on the pulse - its just not doing my blood pressure any good!
the day ended with the news carrying another bush employee pep rally in iraq. when is he going to stop preaching to the converted and start explaining the logic behind " a safer iraq means a safer america". how many people could have eaten hot dogs and had a day off with the amount of money it cost to fly airforce one to bhagdad and back?