The important point which both objections seem to miss, was that I was
not proposing a return to any set of past criteria. In fact the essential
ground of my original article was an objection to the mindless rigidity
which has elevated whimsy to the status of an absolute criterion. Today,
in a society which has come to worship the "cult of Personality" we have
developed a preoccupation with neurosy in all its forms. Among the
symptoms common to all forms of neurosy are the bizarre, irrelevance
of habitual behavior. When this appears as a pot we applaud its novelty,
approve it as a manifestation of some personality, and award prizes for
uniqueness. Now, if what we are concerned with is mental health, this
process may have some Freudian justification, but it has nothing to do
with pots.

Mr. Bozak's idea of "pursuing ourselves through a media like clay" -
sounds aS messy as itis. And Mr, Sures' notion of Art as some sort
of communication suggests at best an improper marriage between
McLuhan and a society desperate to have its trivialities taken seriously.
Now, because we have electricity and machines, anarchy can at last be
justified. We don't have to think any more, all we have to do is act,
feel, respond with immediacy, exist. Our credentials are guaranteed
and any criticism is automatically improper!

It is not simply the feelings, anguish, or idiosyncracies of an age which
issue in its art. These things give rise only to the curios and artifacts,
which allow us to see and understand its weaknesses, Art expresses its
aspirations and its excellences, By its art we can learn to see its
strengths.

In my original article I was pleading for such criteria as might give us
anart. I would object and do object to past criteria, traditionalism, any
other nostalgic references, together with such inappropriate substitutes
for evaluation as I] have mentioned above. Once again may I repeat Art
has nothing to do with self discovery, self expression, or any other

form of therapy. Only commercial art can be concerned with propa-
ganda currently called communication, or any other sort of expression
of transient social convictions. I am concerned with Art, not artifacts.