Comments on “Subcultures: meanings at play”

“subcultures reveled in absurdity. This made for great art…”

What do you consider some of this great art?
Absurdity, like irony, can give an edge to art, but it alone without anything deeper seems like it can only lead to vacuous art, joke art, shock art…from Duchamp’s toilet to Warhol’s junk.

There is great art being made, but doesn’t all of it involve something more profound?

I lay the blame more on art historians than the caperfull Frenchman, for focusing so much effort on reading into the museum urinal when the Larger pieces on other floors are provocative in a way that compells a meaningful response from the imagination. Calvin Tomkins’ biography is illuminating and a fun read, if you like painting. Warhol’s great legacy was his Factory more than its productions; the plastic lightshows seem dated and horrid, but look at the people who came from his nothing-world, from Nico to the Ramones. Danny Fields , famous as the “punk publicist” made a distinction that holds up– the American Warhol crowd weren’t the “No Future” band of visionaries.