When seeing the Paul Graham article that caused such a stir in the photo community recently (see my reactions here and here), I thought that having the debate only amongst photographers would be less than ideal. So I emailed a couple of art bloggers, and today, Ed Winkleman published his response. (more)

Ed is not convinced there actually is a problem. Responding to Paul’s

“But… what of those who work today with equal commitment and sincerity, using straight photography in the cacophonous present? I will not name names here, but for these serious photographers the fog of time still obfuscates their efforts, and the blindness j’accuse some of the art world of suffering from, narrows their options. It means their work will almost never be considered for Documenta, or placed alongside other artists in a Biennale, or found for sale in major contemporary art galleries and art fairs.”

“It always comes back to that: One part of the art world is biased against my kind of painting/sculpture/performance/ceramics/video/photography. Even when it’s actually not (Nina Berman at the Whitney Biennial now, and, arguably, Ion Grigorescu at the last Documenta being just two examples). I want more access than I currently have!! I understand the impulse to imagine it’s a conspiracy, but I think you only serve to heighten the biases that might be there by framing them in an ‘us vs. them’ way. As in any medium, it comes down to the work itself. There’s a strong mix of nearly all media in just about any of the venues noted. So I don’t think that’s a valid complaint.”