My parents collected art, as did my late brother and my sister-in-law (who still does). Beginning in 1980, my first wife and I created a contemporary art consulting business. We helped families and businesses collect works by David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Martha Alf, Andy Warhol, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and many other terrific artists. Soon afterwards, I was retained by three Southern California art museums to raise funds for a variety of projects.
Since seeing my first Jean Arp sculpture as a boy, my personal response to art always has been: Does it make me think? Pretty seascapes and fields of flowers are nice, but they don’t make me ask questions. While I probably wouldn’t have wanted to buy any of the “controversial” quilts Wells Fargo rushed to remove, I’m sure I would have had lots to think about had I seen them.
With this backdrop in mind, let me ask: Did you ever see breakthrough works by Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Marcel Duchamp, Alice Neel or Jackson Pollock? Early in their careers, all these masters were savaged by critics and the public; yet, they never stopped creating art.
As a longtime Wells Fargo customer, my hope is “offending” artist Allyson Allen won’t let this unfortunate experience throw her off course. To the contrary, I hope it motivates her to make bigger, bolder quilts in the future.
Denny Freidenrich, Laguna Beach
