The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, July 25, 1979-Page 7 Art fair a maze of artless offal By JOSHUA PECK The approach of yet another of the annual blots on this fair (not for God's sake, Fair) city's streets undoubtedly gladdens many citizens' hearts. The. town's.regular merchants stand to rake in more money than ever for goods wor- th less than ever; the Greek restauran- ts in town have likely ordered an extra flock or two of slaughtered sheep with which to feed gyros and souvlaki to the ravenous crowds. Soft drink peddlers are gleefully watering their caffeine- rich sewage down, confident that their rushed and hustled patrons will overlook the resultant weakness of the swill. Meanwhile, the town's financial ahd political leaders shout hosannas for themselves and their constituents. We've earned congratulations, it seems, for creating an atmosphere where artists can earn a living - for three days, anyway. Wait. .. there's something amiss in there. Yes, I've found it. It's that word "artists." Who is it that calls these vendors of velvet violets "artists"? My Random House College Dic- tionary calls art "the quality, produc- tion, expression, or realm of what is beautiful, or of more than ordinary significance." This seemingly strait- laced definition is found in a lexicon liberal enough to sport the basest Anglo-Saxon vulgarities. Yet it does make the litter on Maynard St. and elsewhere look rather unqualified. PERHAPS A more useful definition Area tourism bigger crowd Vacationers are staying closer to home this year. With the populous Detroit area practically next door to Ann Arbor, the gasoline scare that is at least partially responsible for this trend could conceivably enhance art fair at- tendance. Although statewide tourism figures over the Fourth of July holiday dropped ten per cent from the same period last year-when gasoline was both more plentiful and less .expensive-the figures calculated by the Michigan AAA show a tourism increase of two to three per cent for the southeastern part of the state. would come from a creator nationally known as a gi-tem-.. artist, a man ac- ceded to be among the most gifted and inventive fashioners of his chosen medium alive today: Edward Albee, American playwright and author of Zoo Story, The American Dream, Seascape, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' In a speech in Mendelssohn Theatre on Washington's birthday of this year, Albee considered the qualities of grip could create a masterpiece of the same consummate worth. GRANTED THAT art is solely the province of the naked ape, we remain stuck for a solid definition of same. Again, I look to the playwright for assistance: "It is the function of the creative arts to hold up the mirror and say to people, 'This is how you are. If you don't like it, change it.' " The deceitful marriage examined in Art, then, remains as humanity's only inviolable realm. We disgrace ourselves when we slap paint onto a whirling cardboard and assign it that three letter word, or when any orangutan with a reasonably strong grip could create a masterpiece of the same consumate worth. humankind that separate us from the lower primates and other allegedly less intelligent animals: * Emotion, once held to be the ex- clusive province of Homo Sapiens, now seems to be evident among the chim- panzees Jane Goodall is studying in Africa. . Complex and richly detailed varieties of social organization can easily be observed in species as mun- dane as the common ant. d Speech of a sort has been taught to a female chimp who has in turn taught her vocabulary to her offspring. Art, then, remains as humanity's only inviolable realm. We disgrace our- selves, then, when we slap paint onto a whirling cardboard and assign it that three letter word, or when any orangutan with a reasonably strong increases; s for fair? So with Detroit area residents opting to drive shorter distances, some who would have headed north might instead drive to nearby Ann Arbor and the art fair. AAA spokesman Tom Freel listed several factors he believes contribute to the tendency for vacationers to limit their driving this year: less "discretionary" income due to ram- paging inflation, the relatively high price of gas, "unfounded fears of gasoline shortages," and the abnor- mally cool weather at least in the early weeks of the summer. Virginia Woolf, then, would serve to reflect the measure of neurosis and unhappiness that plays a part in vir- tually any coupling. A playwright substantially less realistically-oriented than Albee, Eugene Ionesco The Bald Soprano, uses the medium to mirror the foolish licen- se we give words to color our behavior, regardless of the thought, or lack of it, that may be lurking behind the spoken word. The wordless arts - dance, music, painting and the other fine arts - echo with the workings of the soul (yet another elusive notion!) more subtly than the wordy ones, but that they do echo with introspection can scarcely be denied. Music has been called a map of the unconscious, and indeed, there does seem to be something about the best composers' work that speaks to us, through the language of chords and rhythm. Dance, perhaps, is the purest of the arts, as the performer translates his/her aural intake into the most basic of impulses - movement. The work done with palette and brush can move its observers in a variety of ways - The impressionist's dots of light stir recognition in some inexplicably mysterious fashion, while the surrealists juxtapose the literal and impossible for like effects via entirely different avenues. I'M STRAYING from the point - none of this has anything to do with the offal that offends the senses of those who cling to the traditional definitions of art. July's trashmongers produce work that, instead of reaching to reflect the human enigmas, stoops to displaying the lowest common denominator - it is simple-minded rubbish from which everyone walks away unprovoked, and from which no one gleans any idea or passion. "People don't want (introspection)," Albee said late in his talk. "They want the arts to be easy . .. Look at the state of commercial television." Yes, do look. And try to find a substantive dif- ference between the Beverly Hillbillies and the day-glo sea lions on State St. Have a fine time these three days. I'll be home browsing through my Matisse prints. When you tire of the master- works on the streets, you may join me. Joshua Peck, the Summer Arts Editor for the Daily, thinks pom- pous is just another word for mag- nificent. EIM2D S Offers you ... Fine Italian-American Cuisine, A Variety of Luncheon & Dinner Specials, Mouth-Watering Pizza, - A Complete Range of Cocktails, and Live Entertainment Friday & Saturday d-I a HOURnS: Wed- Thurs I1 am-1i2 midnight FISat 'tdI'2 am JULY 25, 26, 27, 28 2oto 50%. OFF EVERY ITEM IN STOCK DOWN JACKETS-TENNIS CLOTHING SWIMWEAR--VESTS-SKIWEAR RUNNING TOGS-WARM UPS-PACKS PILLOWS-RUNNING SHOES-CLEATS SOCKS-SUNGLASSES AND MUCH MORE SAMPLE SAVINGS ... DOWN JACKETS......... Reg $55 to $85 NOW $27.50 to $68 VESTS. ........... ...P.. . Reg $35 to $58 NOW $28 to $39 SHOES ..................... 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