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Aquascapes and Art
<< >>American aquascapes stink. And it's the anti-art sentiments of the
techno/hobby crowd that perpetuate it.<< >>
Hello? What?
There is nothing like a comment like that from a supporter of the arts to
keep a thread alive.
I've had aquascapes that "stunk" by any standard and a few that received a
few "Wow - pretty" comments. Were they "art"? I don't know - I certainly
don't consider them to have been. I intended to set up a communities of
healthy plants and animals that looked good, and I did that. That was
enough. That's why I'm in the hobby.
Other's have different goals. They try to follow the Amano model or the
Dutch model and apparently judge success on how closely the aquascape adheres
to the rules or guidelines of those schools. Good for them - their results
are spectacular. And if they consider their efforts to be "art," that's OK
with me, too.
A problem comes about when the "art" school attempts to convince the
"community" school (or vice versa) that their way is the correct one.
That will never happen and it just chews up server space.
As far as commercializing on one's "art" or whatever, that's fine, too.
Artists have to eat. But I'm reminded of Chip Lord, who about 15 years ago
partially buried 10 Cadillacs near Bushland, Texas. At the time some people
debated whether this was art or not, but it's interesting to note that there
are no gift shops or curio centers at the site. Chip himself supposedly is
buried in one of the cars, going to Heaven in style, so to speak.
While people were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as far as
whether what he did was "art," I imagine that if he had written several
books on the art of burying cars or sold 1/1000 replicas on E-bay, probably
fewer of them would have been so inclined. Still, some would have. Artists
have to eat, too.
Best wishes.
Bill