Recent events here on dA have put me in limbo again. Is this really just another vanity forum, or is there a warranted undercurrent, a genuine "pursuit of the arts"?

A deviant commented on a piece of mine, and asked me to take a look at hers. I did, and didn't like it, for various reasons other than the purely subjective. There is a lot of work lying waiting to be done in her oeuvre. I could tell she, as all artists, valued her work to a certain personal extent. They're her babies, just like my own poems are mine. So I told her just that. It's not good, and I've more to say but I won't unless you specifically ask me to. Because if there's one certain cause of death for art, then surely it must be that loathed phrase...

"I like it"

...with no further explanation.

Like the false and hollow greeting-question...

"How are you?"

...when deep inside you don't really want to know, and which is answered by the equally false and equally hollow...

"Fine"

...when you know, in your heart of hearts, that you anything but fine.

"Just" words, perhaps. But falsehoods to the core.

Equally, I cannot comment or critque in three words, just as I cannot accept such comments and critiques at face value.

Just as we all need to learn to be criqued, we need to learn to critique in kind. Without reverting to ad hominem attacks or flak for flak's sake, we can damn well open up and speak our minds about each other's babies, and not be resented for it.

But I see so little of that going on here, that I've begun to despair. dA tailors to the faceless, the voiceless, the deaf by choice.

An appeal to you then, readers of this Journal.

Critique. And be critiqued.

But do not ever take "I like it" or "I don't like it" at face value.

Greetz'n'Hugz

Jo (Just)