First Post

My name is Donald Pittenger. Over at the 2Blowhards blog I was described as "demographer, recovering sociologist." My role was Third Banana or (on a good day) Second Banana to blog founder "Michael Blowhard." Which was perfectly fine by me. Michael is a rare talent, facile with words and ideas; no wonder he once was a byline writer (under his real name) at a major magazine.

Alas, Michael decided to retire from 2Blowards in the fall of 2009 and I carried it on. That meant having to write five to seven posts a week -- a lot more than my comfort zone of two or three. As you might be guessing, I'm creating this blog so that I can do 2Blowhardish things at a more relaxed pace. So stop by once or twice a week to see what's going on.

What will I be writing about? As the title suggests, mostly about art. Specifically, about painting, design and other aspects of aesthetics (besides all that demography-sociology stuff mentioned above, I was an art major in college.) The point-of-view is that modernism in art is an idea that has, after a century or more, been thoroughly tested and found wanting to a large extent. Not to say that it should be abolished -- just put in its proper, diminished place. Featured here will be modernist mistakes and what I think are nicer alternatives. Hence the name of this blog.

Thank for for reading. And please comment when you're in the mood.