RE: his acceptance by the public. The BIGGEST ISSUE is HOW LITTLE ART, ART HISTORY, AND ART EDUCATION THERE IS IN OUR K-12 SCHOOLS!!! It’s almost as if the world of the visual did not exist, the way American schools educate! And, you know what?! TOO MUCH OF AMERICA LOOKS LIKE THIS IS THE CASE!!! Our landscapes have become littered with the ugliest buildings put there after much monetary consideration, but after NO VISUAL THOUGHTFULNESS OR SENSITIVITY. Talk about dystopian!!! Our subways are actually works of art compared to our suburban strip malls.

Also: The thing is, art is NEVER just the one art movement that many critics and many historians claim for each time period and place. Many artists know that, but often students, especially those willing to open their minds to a field they admit they know nothing about, do not know that, and they are most vulnerable to these false claims. It is happening now, as well. Now, for instance, some people with lots of power like to make it look like the ONLY forward-facing art is made digitally and is about issues that working digitally makes possible. Not so; not at all. Altho some of that work will hold its own as art, at the same time, many hand-made pieces made now will as well. In fact, when one mode in art is expressively viable, its exact opposite is just as viable, as is everything in between, if they are art — and that subject (what IS art) is too big for the likes of me to discuss. But proselytizing IS a major part of the world of judgment, and the world of judgment often tries to colonize the world of art. Remember, proselytizing also creates careers, including in the world of art. I remember seeing George Tooker’s Subway painting in NYC decades ago, where it mixed beautifully with other works of the “modern period” only some of which were more “modernist” in their “look”, illustrating my point, because Subway’s viability was undeniable. The other works nearby that were so different from Subway were equally viable. That very different types of work were hung together in the museum’s exhibition, also shows that not ALL art world people with power are swayed by the proselytizing of the proselytizers — thank goodness. Art helps us open our minds; so, it is amazing how many of its closest “allies” get more out of having a closed mind. Being a champion of one artist or art form is not, by itself, the sin; it is the making of negative comparisons with other modes to support what one champions that is an unfortunate stance or directive, at best; a sinful gesture of careerism at worst. Thanks so very much for this website! I used to try to find out more about Tooker, in 1972 or so, and I so often came up empty, EXCEPT for being able to go over and see Subway! Now, I cannot easily go see his works, but I learned more about the man & saw reproductions of works of his I’d not known about. So thank you very, very much!