Art Lessons for Yuroz

As an artist and teacher, I found David Ferrell’s article interesting (“Never Mind the High Praise. How About a Little Ink?” Feb. 3). He really put his finger on the problem. It is difficult for artists to get any ink, but we work at it, and some are more successful than others. Yuroz is a great talent and has a good business manager who knows how to promote him as an artist. But aside from getting the museums’ attention, artists living in the Los Angeles area, especially in the San Fernando Valley, get little or no ink from the print media. Most of us have to promote ourselves, and we try to show our art in other parts of the country because we get more attention from the press there.

Lorraine Strieby

Chatsworth

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Alas, poor Yuroz! You only have a series of lofts downtown, a six-bedroom ranch home in Camarillo, receive $150,000 “for some major works” and feel you’ve been treated badly by the art world. I believe your efforts in this life would be more fulfilling if you stopped whining about what you don’t have and started using your time and wealth to benefit those in need around you. This might provide you with the satisfaction in life that your wealth and fame evidently have not given you.

Teresa Pietrasanta

Burbank

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Yuroz suffers from a common misunderstanding about the purposes of art. A fine artist’s mission is to research the future of beauty, not rehash the past. Most new works will be failed experiments, and even the most successful work is usually incomprehensible to the public for years. Thus the importance of historical context. Critics and curators aren’t Caesars who confer legitimacy with a thumbs up or down. Rather, most are interested in how a particular work fits into current trends in philosophy and social sciences--to explain the work rather than react to it--so they have little to say about the purely decorative.

Tim Sassoon

Venice

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Ferrell argues that Yuroz “ventured down the path of commercialism” and “that is enough to be all but blackballed by prestigious galleries and museums.” I believe his work speaks for itself: syrupy, pseudo-Cubistic and completely out of touch with the lineage of art history and the contemporary art world. His work clearly exudes commercialism, regardless of where it has been exhibited. Yuroz seems to think that his success in the private sector should entitle him to museum exhibitions and a place in the pages of art history.

I congratulate Yuroz on being commissioned by the U.N. and for commanding prices of up to $150,000 for his major canvases. But contrary to popular belief, the world of fine art is not some yippy, skippy fun land where bohemian spirits freely express themselves. No, the art world has its codes and rules, just like everything else in life. The fact that Yuroz refuses to accept this means that his “art” probably will never grace the walls of LACMA or any other major museum, even if it does land on the cover of your magazine.

Quinton Bemiller

Los Angeles

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OK, let’s see if I understand this: Yuroz, who often sells a single painting for more money than I’ve made in the 22 years that I’ve been a professional artist, stands in one of his several downtown lofts and complains that he gets no respect. He’s received a commission from the U.N. He shows in galleries. He sells prints. He is, in his own words, wealthy. And now he has The Times doing press flack work for him. What am I missing here? Is it, perhaps, that I didn’t realize life was so tough at the top? Sorry, Yuroz, I’m not buyin’ the sob story.

Nancy LeMay

Via the Internet