[Tom Edgerton]

Jim--

Amen, and amen.

While I tend to agree with others that 20th Century non-realism and abstraction was an aberration, not the main trunk of the developmental tree as we were taught, it's really an attitude born of my current bias toward realism and my irritation that the artists that I now admire weren't mentioned in my art history training. In the mid-70's, I thought all of those guys in MOMA were gods, too. Debating whether they should have gotten any attention, or that they only did so because they were the darlings of a critical elite is pointless, because that horse is already out of the barn. Trying to rewrite history is a futile pastime.

As for the present marketplace, I agree that there's no conspiracy. People buy dogs playing poker, kids with big eyes, big ol'abstracts, gas grills, and red towels for a variety of reasons, most entirely personal. Nobody's putting a gun to their heads about any of it. The quality work is available for those that recognize it and want it.

I'm not mad at anyone. Most of the time I just feel very fortunate to be able to have any income at all from painting. History has not always been so kind, even to realists.

Cheers--TE