This is pretty funny, Cartier-Bresson Booted from Flickr
Here is a real life example of the kind of criticism Mike is mocking here. The “deleteme” group on Flickr is just that—people make comments and vote to keep or delete a picture from the group pool. This lends itself to art by committee, with hilarious results such as Mario’s Bike on Flickr.
Henri Cartier-Bresson might be many a photographer’s hero but he certainly didn’t get any breaks from the Flickr Deleteme group.
Humour value aside though I think it raises an interesting point, why should a famous artist be given any special treatment over a nobody? Everyone is allowed their opinion even if that opinion goes against historical or popular opinion. Does a number one mean a song is better than had it not achieved the top 40? Just because a critic tells you to go see a movie does that movie suck any less? Of course the reverse it also true; just because someone else finds something wrong in a work of art does not make it any less art.
My own efforts at criticism are probably no better or worse than those in that thread, although I do lean toward praise rather than negative and lead with how a picture makes me feel rather than an appreciation of technical merit. I don’t see there being any real answers to this. There should be nobody in art above criticism, even if the criticism is of the facile quality of deleteme.
What do you think?
flickr, funny, photography, art
