Portland Mutual Admiration Society
Well, it's good to see that the folks over at portlandart.net are keeping the tradition of the mutual admiration society alive. Not unlike many local Oregon institutions, it is less about talent and experience and more about exercising sycophantic ability when it comes to getting recognition and advancing through the art ranks.
I'm a bit rough around the edges and perhaps that is why I will never find myself in the good graces of the Portland art snobs, but they have a deep pool of talent to draw from so all is not lost. Wait, no. Yes, wait. I will stop here before I find myself on the receiving end of something less than pleasant being delivered to me via courier.
Cheers Portland, kudos to your fucked up art scene.
posted by Mr. Viddy @ 11:03 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
...you simply couldnt be more mistaken and I wonder where this all comes from?
If nothing else PORT does introject a level of critical polarization that is very healthy and reflective. We stand on our record.
Well said, Mr. Viddy. I admire your chutzpah in publishing your thoughts on this matter as they were bound to bring on some sort of virulent flame (as evidenced above).
I'll wager there are many others out there who are suspect of the PORT macroblog with regard to its massive scale inbreeding but, like me, are not ready to go head to head with people like jj. Wasted energy, really.
But his retort to your post inspires me to write a few words of my own on the subject (anonymously, of course, as I artfullydodge flames whenver possible).
First, in reading his posting, it would seem that jj -- presumably Jeff Jahn who is PORT founder, critic, and artist all in one (talk about inbreeding) -- is supportive of critical polarization as long as the criticism is not aimed in his direction.
Mr. Jahn may be on back-slapping terms with most of the players in the Portland art scene, but I bet he'd be surprised to know how transparent he is to most of us.
He's a mediocre writer and a worse artist, which may not only point to the origin of that giant chip on his shoulder, but also to to the reason for his incoherent retort to your post.
Perhaps that's also why it seems his major contribution to the Portland art scene is a horde of convoluted and contradictory one liners, many of which are directed at other artists.
In other words, he is an artist who is constantly slamming other artists. Are we serious here? What exactly is the draw?
Another favorite pastime for him seems to consist of acting as if he is an irrefutable a resource for Portland's cache of contemporary art history which, as a fairly recent transplant, he has no first-hand knowledge of.
No worries, though. Every scene needs its blustering buffoon. What fun would the world be without them?
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