How societies frame high art, when it happens for real, has never really changed much. Without undue cynicism, it's easy to see how the sanitization process works. High art tends to be smeared with the same patina of associations— something sanctimonious, fraught with pseudo-religious over and undertones, Sunday School-ish, "eat your veggies," something to be endured. Something uncool. This is all a price to be paid for the ability high art has to conquer long durations of time. No to mention the accrual of enormous sums of invested money to works of high art, making it game to say it, and they, earn their keep in the world. Yet, no fun. And the fraudulence around popular art and popular culture products takes "eat your veggies" and begets "eat your gristle." Aughts Philadelphia has something else in mind, which sounds simple but isn't. Mary, Abby, and the rest work in an unprecedented way, and on an unprecedented level in America, as classicists who can also be elite as pin-ups. There is no reason Abby and Mary should not be pin-ups. They were steamy, racy, and very sexualized. Why not? Well, society may say, because that doesn't fit the cathedral mold. Doesn't allow for proper sanitization. I am asking people to appreciate and accept an ambitious agenda from us. I am proselytizing that what came out of Philadelphia in the Aughts should be allowed both rights, both privileges. Pin-ups in the cathedral. Let us throw away the molds, throw away the formulas, and enfranchise this body of work to do what it wants to do in the world. Both. Thus, we create for ourselves parameters in which we can have and maintain the dignity and integrity we deserve. Peace.
