Re: [CR]Is it art or engineering?

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing:Falck)

From: "Diane Feldman" <feldmanbike@home.com>
To: "D. Kennard" <d.kennard@home.com>, "Jerry Moos" <moos@penn.com>
Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <B6CCF94D.1510%d.kennard@home.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Is it art or engineering?
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 09:10:05 -0800


And then there was Duke Ellington, "If it sounds good, it is good!" David Feldman


----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Kennard"
To: Jerry Moos
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 8:54 AM
Subject: Re: [CR]Is it art or engineering?



> Gang,
>
> I remember a friends high school art teacher saying:
> "who is to say what IS art, and what is NOT?" Something like
> "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
> My neighbor walked into my garage full of collectable (to me) vintage
> lightweight bikes, shook his head and said "They all look the same
> to me; just a bunch of bikes. Why would you want more than one?".
> Cheers,
>
> Duane "lover of art I recognize" Kennard
>
> > Then, what, pray tell, is a "true artist"? Only painters and sculpters? Must
> > a statue be in marble the be art, or can it be cast in bronze? Steel? If
> > steel, must it stand in front of a bank, or can it grace the hood of a
> > Packard, or Deusenberg or Rolls or Bentley? What
> > about the headbadge of a Hetchins? Are great furniture designers not artists
> > because one can sit on theit works? Was Frank Lloyd Wright not an artist
> > because one can live in his works? Must an object be devoid of any practical
> > use to be art? And if buildings and furniture
> > and engraved gold pocket watches are art, why not bicycles?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jerry Moos
> >
> > brucerobbins@worldmailer.com wrote:
> >
> >> To suggest that framebuilding is an artform is to denigrate true artists.
> >> What I admire in a frame is not its artistic qualities but its engineering.
> >> It's similar to an old Leica or a Bristol Blenheim II: the appreciation is of
> >> the craftsmanship. Bob Reid can speak for himself but I suspect that the fine
> >> engineering behind the Flying Scot is what turns him on, cycling-wise.
> >>
> >> Elevating the Californian Masi makers to the level of artists merely confirms
> >> everything the outside world (and there is one outwith California) thinks of
> >> people who come from that state. (Email me off-list if you want to know what
> >> that is but it's not for the squeamish).
> >>
> >> Bruce "Oops, there goes the special transatlantic relationship" Robbins.
> >>
> >> Get your free email with GroupWeb Worldmailer at
> >> http://www.worldmailer.com. Send and receive e-mail
> >> from any computer with a web browser.