This was my letter in response:
Oh, great! There's nothing like writing a ridiculous review
filled with utter nonsense about an important, influential
artist to get people out in Dallas to the DMA ("Still
Wannabe," March 15).
So, let's see, the DMA features a couple of artists that
Christine Biederman doesn't like and so she decides to, in
the case of Joseph Beuys, place her finger in random
locations in a book about Beuys and decides to tie them all
together *her way*. Well, I suppose that's what a critic is
for, eh? I need to keep this letter short and so I won't go
into her twisted reworkings of Beuys' history, but I will
recommend that before you attend the exhibit, please try to
cleanse your mind of this scatterbrained review and,
possibly, do a little research of your own on this
supremely important artist and then make up your own mind
concerning the "worth" of his art and ideas.
The letter writer ("Go, Snob Sister, Go," March 22) "Ammit
N." apparently felt so strongly adverse to this show that a
nearly identical letter was sent to the Dallas Morning
News. It appears that "Ammit N" comes from the "Hey! I can
do that, so it's not art!" school. You don't have to like
it (d)Ammit, but just as buying a fluorescent bulb from
Home Depot doesn't make you a Dan Flavin or buying stacked
cubes from The Container Store doesn't make you a Sol
LeWitt, you can believe me that felt suits don't make the
"man" Joseph Beuys.
Remember, there's a whole history and reason for an
artist's intentions even if you don't agree with them.
Just don't have Christine Biederman explain them to you.
Rod Stasick
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