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Tom,
It is appalling what that buffoon, Gopnik, has wrought! I was so furious when I read your post today. You see, Blake Gopnik's ignorance of art was for a long time, infecting Canada's "The Globe and Mail" newspaper. Then, a few years ago he was lured away by the, apparently, even more culturally simple-minded, "Washington Post". I am sorry that you in the US will now have to bear his peurile, irrelevant rantings. He had a habit, which seems to persist, to say almost anything at all, so long as it hasn't an iota of solid knowledge about the thing he derides. For example, he once criticised a painter here in Toronto, who had been living and studying Old Masters in Germany for a few years, for not showing us "innovative new brush techniques" in his latest work. I was given to wonder if Mr. Gopnik could explain such an asinine phrase. I mean, are there even any innovative new brush techniques after some 5000+ years of trying? If so, who would care? It's absurd, but it's just the sort of meaningless artspeak that is his stock-and-trade. I'm glad that you brought that article to our attention, though, but as you and others have pointed out, what he says doesn't really affect you or your profession. It will all fade away in a heartbeat.
All the best.
Juan
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