Art, including cartoons can't be viewed objectively

In response to the letter regarding Josh Proctor's "Big Bag O' Happy" by Matt Iles on Monday:

Matt,

After reading Monday's response to Josh Proctor's "Big Bag O' Happy," which mocked the author and his work, I was filled with a particular uneasiness. I found your commentary suffered from a real lack of understanding of both the subject matter, and most importantly, the medium in which the author is expressive. Although I admire your fledgling intellectual pursuit into humorous analysis, just as I admire a baby's first steps, I am obliged to disagree with your opinion on the social and intellectual accountability of the cartoon, and further the author. A comic is a form of art, not CNN. It is not necessarily factual. Further, The Oxford English Dictionary states that the "comic," " ... pertain[s] to the art of comedy." With comedy you have humor that often takes the form of caricature or sarcasm, like Josh's comic.

Matt, art is not a clearly defined social arena for discussion, immediately open to opinions from both sides in an intellectual sense. It only is in an expressive sense. There is no comment box in art, although you see them at museums now. The true brilliance in art comes from creativity or exploration. This often means constructing images or events that are nonexistent, non-reality based, or non factual. In creativity you find the ultimate freedom. You also find the most persecution from people like you who take an exploration as THE litmus test of the respective subject. Wrong.

To say the comic is "ineffective" is a lie. The comic is obviously effective because you wrote a letter about it. To say that the author is engaging in prejudice is prejudice in and of itself, as your veiled proposal of censorship shows. You offended all artists around the world by writing your article, including me. People create art for themselves, but they also do it for other people to enjoy. Criticism is the highest form of flattery, but obviously not yours.

I offer some advice to you, Matt. Write your own comic. It's the only way your point will truly have an attempt at being made. Lastly, I would recommend you take a trip into the Chasm of Sar for a while to think about the things I have written. It's very nice and inexpensive this time of year!

By Tyson Krock (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 2, 1997