from "Vilify": Part III

glass art by Robert Kaindl


from "Vilify": Part III


Yes, I hate blown glass art and I happen
to live in the blown glass art capital of
the world, Seattle, Washington. Being a
part of the Seattle artistic community, I
often get invited to galleries that are
displaying the latest glass sculptures by
some amazing new/old/mid-career glass blower.
I never go. Abstract art leaves me feeling
stupid and bored. Perhaps, it's because I
grew up inside a tribal culture, on a
reservation where every song and dance had
specific ownership, specific meaning, and
specific historical context. Morever, every
work of art had use--art as tool: art to heal;
art to grieve. I think of the Spanish word
"carnal", defined as, "Of the appetites and
passions of the body." And I think of
Gertrude Stein's line, "Rose is a rose is a
rose is a rose." When asked what that line
meant, Stein said, "The poet could use the
name of the thing and the thing was really
there." So when I say drum, the drum is
really being pounded in this poem; when I
say fancydancer, the fancydancer is really
spinning inside this poem; when I say Indian
singer, that singer is really wailing inside
this poem. But when it comes to abstract art--
when it comes to studying an organically
shaped giant piece of multi-colored glass--
I end up thinking, "That looks like my
kidney. Anybody's kidney, really. And
frankly, there can be no kidney-shaped
art more beautiful--more useful and
closer to our Creator--than the kidney
itself. And beyond that, this glass isn't
funny. There's no wit here. An organic
shape is not inherently artistic. It
doesn't change my mind about the world.
It only exists to be admired. And,
frankly, if I wanted to only be in
admiration of an organic form, I'm going
to watch beach vollyball. I'm always going
to prefer the curve of a woman's hip or
a man's shoulder to a piece of glass that
has the same curves.


Sherman Alexie

from his book FACE.