PALM ATTITUDES

It sounds as if Deborah Smith is right where she belongs: hustling T-shirts (“Art-A-Porter,” by Barbara De Natale, Palm Latitudes, May 15). The article perpetuates the comforting myth that the game is somehow rigged against those unable to succeed in the tough world of fine art. This myth is one that gallery owners themselves employ, often in kindness, to spare the feelings of some artist whose work they consider not good enough to show.

REBECCA WADHOLM

Santa Monica

Art galleries exist for the purpose of selling art. They are private businesses selling a product, as are furniture stores or restaurants. Occasionally, a gallery owner will be altruistic enough to take a chance with an unknown artist, but such occasions are few and far between.

It is more realistic to look to the public museums to provide exposure for emerging artists. Private museums cannot be expected to do this, but the L.A. County Museum of Art, operating on public funding, could.

RICHARD HOFFMAN

Los Angeles

Ivy Brown’s “Getting Your Goat” (Palm Latitudes, May 8) was human, yet not a self-righteous, preachy or pretentious piece of pedantry screaming down our throats about our species’ cruelty.

As Brown said, we are conscious human beings living on a planet with other conscious beings. We are not supermarket robots buying whatever is put in front of us. And as she so gently put it, consciousness equals clarity. Our choices become obvious as our consciousness rises.

CHRIS MURPHY

Moorpark