John Hardly,

I agree about the Emperor's New Clothes style of art. I have been griping about it for years, and referring to it by the same reference.

Your situation reminds me of the time that I was working with a young woman who fancied herself as a poet. She probably had potential but she didn't get the idea of her art speaking for itself so when she asked me to read some of her poems she stood at my shoulder and explained in great detail what each line was about. I tried to tell her that as a work of art it should be crafted well enough to speak for itself but she didn't know what I meant and persisted in giving me the full context of each line, and how it related to her relationship to her father, and blah and blah blah. Maybe she gets the idea now or maybe she is still on the same path, I don't know. It's not easy getting that particular message through, especially when someone isn't open to hearing it, for whatever reason.


Helen