August 2, 2010

The Internet is full of messages from people pleading that we vote for their show as the best of the year. This is why Asheville will never quite be the holy city of art it perpetually feels itself on the brink of being. Its artists don’t really believe in greatness, in quality. They do not seek greatness out to honor it or learn from it. They resent it, because it forces–or would force if hearts were pure– a re-evaluation of their own efforts. They do not seek to be better, but rather seek for the definition of quality to be altered to contain them. Predictably, not one voice which has asked deserves. They think Eternity can be created by a poll in a newspaper. Something can be created by a poll in a newspaper, but it is not Eternity. Maybe just a page in a scrapbook. I do not scoff at that. It is something.