I’ve actually had a lot of fun researching lowriders. I think I was inspired by the holiday parade in Las Vegas, NM, where about half the parade was just lowrider covered in Christmas lights.
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Thinking about it, Knox said to Rodrigo, “Okay, I hear what you’re saying. I can appreciate engines because I know about them.” Rodrigo slung his arm over Knox’s shoulders and said, “Precisely. This art is like those engines. Beautiful in its complexity. Whereas something that’s simply pretty is more like… a wheel maybe.” Knox asked, “Are we talking a reverse 100 spoke with whitewalls? because that, my friend, is art.” Laughing, Rodrigo replied, “I think you’re missing the point. Let’s say it’s a donut wheel in the trunk in case you get a flat.” Baffled, Knox said, “Can one even call that a wheel?” Rodrigo said, “Exactly.” Knox said, “I think I’d rather push my car into a swamp than be caught with one of those things on it.”
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As a general engineer and handyman, I have always appreciated art more in how it was made than what it means.
I’ve noticed site downtime recently – yesterday it was a few hours, and a week or three ago the domain appeared to be up for grabs.
Is all well on the back end? Are you aware/managing it?
What we really don’t have is an appreciation for appreciation itself. As Rodrigo is trying to stress to Knox. There are different flavors and depths of understanding the subject matter as well as the art and labor that goes into making the object. Or symphony, or other non-physical work. What do we have instead? Critics. Who are not themselves subject to criticism about their criticism. Which is what made Siskel and Ebert as popular as they were; two viewpoints, not always in opposition but often needing explication, which was volubly provided. We need more of that sort of criticism. My own viewpoint tires me sometimes. Let’s get someone else’s.
Actually, one can appreciate a car engine without knowing anything, because that is how one is first introduced to them. There must be something attractive in the raw stimulus, or one wouldn’t continue into the research. So if art doesn’t appear pretty at first introduction, it’s hopeless, that person will never get it (I speak as someone who doesn’t get art).
Just got done reading Nefarious Nights! What a great sequel!