Yes I know - what has this got to do with art???? Listen to Mr. Gore's critique - "The Assault on Reason." You're experiencing a mature intelligence coming to terms with the mechanics of our culture & our society. I like the way he lays out the problems, then takes a shot at laying out deliberate solutions. It's all done with such clarity & truth. Instead of this dialog being an everyday event in our culture this critical reasoning seems stunning - a real breath of fresh air. Charlie Rose (click for a bigger version) tries to keep up, but keeps heading for the media fall back position. Mr. Gore keeps dragging him back on point.

The precepts that Mr. Gore's critiquing are the political underpinnings for the money & power frenzy that have choked off new creative ideas in the art world since 2002. We engage in a very, very micro critique of the contemporary art world, but it mirrors Mr. Gore's macro critique of the daunting problems that face our larger society. Would the art world look the way that it does today without the political climate that allowed so much power and money to fall into so few hands? I doubt it. With every auction and gallery sale that pumps the prices of art through the stratosphere and places undue influence into the hands of so few - as a struggling artist - you have to wonder how this came to be and what we might do about it. Corporate power and control over the creative act has gone far enough.

Read the book.