Madam, - I share the concern of your correspondent Kevin Myers at the elevation of soiled goods, whether sheep or sheets, to the status of art (An Irishman's Diary, May 21st). However, I have some difficulty with his attempt at constructing a thesis linking the production of such artwork with left-leaning propensities.
Certainly, he seems blissfully unaware of an alternative theory, the subject of several books, suggesting that the advancement of American avant-garde art of the mid-20th century was a CIA plot, hatched by such notables as Nelson Rockefeller. Also, it is worth nothing that the Young British Artists, creators of much of the work so despised by Kevin Myers, have been supported and promoted actively by one Charles Saatchi, hardly a card-carrying member of the British Community Party!
Curiously, the historical journey of the modernist art movement from its radical beginnings to its present position as darling of the right somewhat echoes the career of your correspondent.
Art and its production is far too complex an issue to fit into the ideological straitjacket fashioned by Kevin Myers. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT BALLAGH,
Temple Cottages,
Broadstone,
Dublin 7.