Artistic taste

[abu nuwas]

Any "ism" (and almost all of them make me itch and shiver) views the world through a very narrow filter -- but so too does "popular culture". We are constantly bombarded by some critic's notion of "fashion" and how we should present ourselves, "what's hot and what's not", what toys to buy our kids, what books we should have read to achieve this level of sophistication, what magazines we should have read to achieve this level of celebrity awareness, what cheese is bad for us this week and what plastic milkshake will fill us up enough to magically shrink our stomachs and turn flab into ab with no exercise except pressing the dial button on the telephone. My point is that everyone who tells us en masse that something is good, acceptable, culturally significant or just "in right now" has an agenda. It may not necessarily be a sinister agenda and it may indeed coincide with our own personal goals (not just those we've been told we ought to have by Cosmo or The New Yorker -- yes, I put them together for a bloody good reason).

The fact is, if we choose to be impressionable beyond our impressionable years of youth, we will always have our thoughts and tastes dictated to us by others. I am unashamed to enjoy many pursuits that are considered "lowbrow" by "those who know" -- similarly, I enjoy many "snobbish" things and if I had a more snobbish budget, I'd be filling my house with Impressionist paintings and attend the opera every weekend Of course, my decor and dress would remain dreadfully unfashionable!

I think I've wandered... this happens... anyway, the confidence to buck trends and make your own decisions on what you find aesthetically pleasing probably comes from knowledge. Try everything at least once before you decide if you like it, then try it again a few years later to see if your tastes have changed. And never, ever be satisfied with the status quo -- they were a rubbish band in the 70s and they're just feeble now.

Agree re 'isms', except that, were there no fashions/fads/Zeitgeist --life would be v boring, and we should never have had Hots Pants, Minis, Micros etc

I think what impressed my bother and myself, was that we had picked up this stuff, and long since embraced it; so that one does not look a at a ye olde Christmas card, and first think,'How nice!' and then think 'No, I mustn't think that'. And in fact, there is something nice about even the most--most--crass ones.

The same brother, years ago, acquired a lamp, form out of greeny ducks with beaks up, and I thought it comical. My wife said she would give her right arm for it--so I looked again, and soon coveted as well. The same has happened many times at a boot fair, with some bit of china.

Although my brother and I went down different paths, in some ways we are the same. His sons resemble more a woman who said to me that she would really love to have an oil-painting. Nothing in particular-just that. I find it puzzling, but feel I have not truly expressed myself very well.