Advertisement

No Tannen Balm

Share

I admire Robert Tannen’s efforts in the planning and preservation of the country’s river systems. I have little doubt that he is a competent urban planner. But I do object to his (ironically) self-important tone in his critique of traditional object making (“Citizen Tannen,” by Kristine McKenna, Feb. 21).

Tannen dismisses the international creative community as “self-indulgent and self-promotional” and insists that “object making and the idea of permanence central to the art object have no meaning for me.” What is not mentioned in the article is that accompanying the Tannen exhibition in Santa Monica is a price list that offers such objects as bottled water for $200 or a Tannen-inscribed oyster shell for a paltry $40. Visionary outsider, indeed.

Mr. Tannen, let’s not have the hypocrisy to call the kettle black. Self-righteousness is not a virtue. But if you want to continue as the high priest of junk culture, it might be suggested that instead of symbolically crucifying a tarpon on a cross, you might substitute a statuette of yourself. You can title it “Artist as Social Worker as Martyr.”

Advertisement

JOSEPH LIN

Los Angeles

Advertisement