[Red Sea Swimmer]

I was driving down a city back street a few years ago, and there was a group of three people each a with a plastic bag on their head sitting on the footpath. Pedestrians were wandering past. It seemed some were taking an interest in the "bagged-ones". Some of the onlookers must have thought they were druggies or something and were offering them a hand. As I was parked at the lights opposite, I noticed that the "bagged-ones" were shooing the onlookers away.

I was most perplexed by the whole spectacle, until I read a few days later about an art group who had received a government grant of several thousand dollars for a street performance to do with homelessness and urban decay for the Fringe Festival.

Good art uplifts and energizes. Poor art is a complete waste of time. The plastic bags in this "art performance" were definitely wasted on the wearers.

[Straight Vermonter]

Good art uplifts and energizes. Poor art is a complete waste of time.

Let me disagree with you a bit. Good art should make you feel something. If it uplifts that's great but it is equally good art if it can make you angry, make you sad or simply leave you awestruck. A good example is combat photography which can covey any of the emotions I mentioned.

What passes for art today does none of these things. No one other than the artist has any idea of what it is supposed to represent.