Claragold, I invite you to go back through my previous posts about art, particularly with pyshnov, to determine if I am uninformed on the subject or arguing speciously.
YOU said that Plagens' work looked like grad students'. Do you not realize that YOU have demeaned the work of both in such a statement?
You are correct that I evaluated Plagens' work as on a grad student level. You disputed this evaluation by saying that his work was "legitimate and intelligent." Thus, according your post, the two cannot be equal - "grad student work" and " legitimate and intelligent."
The only thing I said or implied is that Plagens' work is better than that of "grad students."
"Grad students" in the typical. Not in the "all." His work reveals an intellectual maturity that few grad students achieve, in my experience. This does not mean that all grad work is illegitmate, unintellectual, or as you put it, retarded.
First "legitimate and intelligent" is not equal to "intellectual maturity." Second of all, there are many criteria that go into evaluating art, it is not all restricted to "legitimacy and intelligence," and, furthermore, the concepts of "legitimacy" and "intelligence" are problematic. Even so, it's exactly your allegedly grand "intellectual maturity" in Plagen's work that was being disputed. From the link that I saw posted (which is the only thing I have seen so far, thankfully), it's second to third rate abstract work. And not even close to Cezanne, although Cezanne isn't on the top of my list either.
In sum, you think his work is so magnificent, I don't.
Grow up.
Learn how to argue with more than "it's so because I said so" and "grow up."