[Dixielandjazz] Dadaism

[Burt Wilson]

Well, Bill, this is why Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous treatise "But is it art?" As I said in my previous post, although I have my own ideas, I admire diversity. Each new thing has the potential of producing something good and if it doesn't then the public will, in fact, ignore it. Now, if you will just explain what "hauntingly evocative" means, I think I can get you a job with the New Yorker. <g>

Burt Wilson
Silver Dollar Jazz Band


-------Original Message-------
From: Bill Gunter <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
Sent: 05/28/03 03:53 PM
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Dadaism

> 
> Listmates,

It has been writ:

>The
>dadaists rejected the notion that society was a steady stream of
>chronological improvement through the ages and that the slaughter of WWI
>proved this.  Therefore, the dadaists were basically pointing out that
the
>presumptions of the art world up to that point (what is, is not, art and
or
>great art), had to be re thought, because the premise that mankind was
>advancing was false.  Even though the cynical humor of the dadaists is
what
>is generally remembered today, drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa was
>actually a very serious statement underneath.

This is, of course, trivial and is not a serious statement, it is a
cynical 
one which attempts to reduce all human endeavor into trash.

If dadaists wish to take the position that all is basically rubbish and 
there is nothing of value which transcends ordinary things, that is just 
fine. But for dadaists to pretend that this is a profound observation on
the 
nature of human affairs they are members of the class of people (and a
large 
class it is, too) known as fools.

You can take all the dada doodoo and stick it in your ear.

I'm not saying the surrealism of artists like Dali are worthless - I find 
them hauntingly evocative. But the catch is that if Dali has merit then it 

is no longer da da.

If the antithesis of "serious" has merit then it is, ipso facto, a 
contradiction and an absurdity. Hence the only way to appreciate dadaism
is 
to ignore it.

Respectully submitted,

Bill "I Draw A Mustache on the Average Atmospherocephalic Bureaucrat in
the 
Act of Milking a Cranial Harp" Gunter

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>