No Tannen Balm

I admire Robert Tannen’s efforts in the planning and preservation of the country’s river systems. I have little doubt that he is a competent urban planner. But I do object to his (ironically) self-important tone in his critique of traditional object making (“Citizen Tannen,� by Kristine McKenna, Feb. 21).

Tannen dismisses the international creative community as “self-indulgent and self-promotional� and insists that “object making and the idea of permanence central to the art object have no meaning for me.� What is not mentioned in the article is that accompanying the Tannen exhibition in Santa Monica is a price list that offers such objects as bottled water for $200 or a Tannen-inscribed oyster shell for a paltry $40. Visionary outsider, indeed.

Mr. Tannen, let’s not have the hypocrisy to call the kettle black. Self-righteousness is not a virtue. But if you want to continue as the high priest of junk culture, it might be suggested that instead of symbolically crucifying a tarpon on a cross, you might substitute a statuette of yourself. You can title it “Artist as Social Worker as Martyr.�

JOSEPH LIN

Los Angeles