Once again, beauty takes it on the chin.
In a Jan 13, 2011 NY TIMES review, Roberta Smith, commenting on the aerial landscapes of J. Henry Fair, notes the dissonance between the aesthetic appeal of the abstract photographs and the message of environmental degradation they portray: "… a strange battle between medium and message, between harsh truths and trite, generic beauty."
Curiously, Smith does not make clear why the beauty of the images, separate from their origin, is "trite" or "generic." The implication seems to be one that haunts the art world; namely that "beauty" without a conceptual underpinning is not worth our consideration.
Smith concludes that: " They evoke the work that usually falls on what might be generously called art’s lightweight side, from Bouguereau’s academic nudes to Dale Chihuly glass sculptures."
Here again, it appears that "lightweight" refers to art absent concept.
Is there no room in the art world for the emotional apprehension of beauty unmoored from intellect?