Art for Lightweights?

I think I like art, but I'm not sure. That's because photography is my favorite art form and yet I wonder if it is more journalism than art. It's possible that I like photography because I have no imagination. If you put an abstract painting in front of me, all I see are blobs of paint. And even when I know I'm allowed to "see" anything I want in the painting, those blobs stubbornly remain blobs.

Make no mistake, however, I quite enjoy listening to other people tell me what they see, or better yet, what the artist saw or wanted others to see. For me it's like going to a foreign country and observing unfamiliar customs.

But standing before a photograph, almost any photograph, piques my curiosity. Who is that person? Or what *is* that thing? Or, in the case of Mappelthorpe, OUCH!

All of this by way of saying I'm in hog heaven right now with an abundance of photography exhibitions to choose from. I recently went to the book-less NY Public Library to see some of its vast collection of portraits. Tomorrow, Stieglitz in Lower Manhattan!