In the name of art
WITH reference to the article "Tech boosts Glover entries" (The Examiner, February 2), I have never been supportive of a process where important aesthetic and value judgements of paintings are made by a panel using photographic images of the work.
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The Art Gallery of NSW, I believe, manages to attract a massive variety of submissions for the Archibald Prize where work is delivered and visually assessed.
I acknowledge this is cumbersome, involving handling and storage but that is the nature of the beast.
To assess a painting as an online image means the panel is missing essential features of the piece such as scale, pigment texture, artistic energy, integrity and even smell.
There is no substitute for face-to-face appreciation.
There is the hint of cultural cringe when a curatorial body believes it can only extend the quality of paintings by appealing to overseas entrants who have never, and perhaps never will, set foot on this island.
John Glover at least had the energy to get out of England and come here before creating and presenting personal visual interpretations of place.
Maybe the next marketing strategy will be to make the Glover Prize a completely online experience.
Why bother with all that messy and physical energy needed to assemble and hang an exhibition when we can just go online and view at leisure?
What a marketing success story that would be.
Fred McCullough, Launceston.
Road safety on the Midland
UPON reading the editorial in The Examiner (February 12) on safer roads and our responsibility to make them safer, I was reminded of a near accident at the intersection of the Midland Highway and the Esk Highway recently.
There are road works on the Esk Highway, which slows down traffic and makes some people a little testy and impatient.
Arriving at the intersection with the Midland Highway, we witnessed a small car turn right onto the Midland Highway without apparently looking left.
A fully loaded truck heading north had to brake heavily to avoid the slow-moving car.
This intersection has claimed lives in the past and will possibly do so again.
I am asking all political parties to make this intersection a high priority, especially as many of our tourists will travel this route.
S. Langerak, Hadspen.
Health insurance costs
THE cost of health insurance has blown out to its present state due to politicians of both ilks who have been lazy, ignorant of business practices and beholden to big business.
Health insurance companies come, cap in hand, begging for money and are appeased for an easy life.
The facts are: very few companies or individuals own many enterprises trading as health insurers.
They trade similarly to those corporations trading off-shore tax havens.
Bogus enterprises trading in name only claim fabricated losses against the parent company to justify a tax deduction and or rate increase.
Early examples of this were seen during World War II.
The British government needing to finance its war effort levied shipping companies with the full operating cost of a war ship, if they had more than X amount of ships.
The large companies split and renamed their fleets to be below the levied amount.
The basis of many tax avoidance schemes today.
Make each and every enterprise stand alone at tax time or refuse any increase for five years.
Wally Reynolds, Perth.
LGH parking for staff
PARKING is an issue for the nurses and staff at Launceston General Hospital.
They are not permitted to park in the Charles Street, Holyman clinic, orthopaedic clinic or the NICS car parks between 8am-3pm.
Infringement notices will be enforced. Staff are encouraged to use the council Elizabeth Street car park opposite the Colonial Motor Inn, or use the free Tiger bus from Invermay. Parking at Inveresk costs $1 an hour or $3 a day.
The Tiger bus operates on the hour between 10am to 3pm. How do they get there before 10am and after 3pm?
Staff were told there is a duty of care to provide public parking for patients so they are not late or miss their appointments. Where is the duty of care for our nurses who do early, double and late night shifts and now have to find parking outside of the hospital?
Vicki Rush, Newnham.
Retirees
TASMANIAN retirees will applaud the Liberals’ initiative in allowing seniors free or subsidised entry to national parks. Of course, we all remember when all these parks were available free of charge.
On several occasions the Association of Independent Retirees advocated for this to happen as part of a wellbeing initiative, the idea being that active older people would be healthier and less likely to need hospital care.
The request extended to subsidising seniors with fitness club fees and even support for older group gatherings such as Probus. We note and applaud the support for Men’s Sheds also designed to keep older males fit, active and gainfully involved.
Dick James, Launceston.
State Election
WEST Tamar mail deliveries from the efficient economic Tasmanin Liberals was a message from and authorised by Will Hodgman including the statement "Your local Lyons members ..." who were listed.
I live in the 7270 postcode, now Bass, therefore the letter was not now appropriate. Maybe the Bass Liberals are not appropriate.
Archer Hewitt. Kayena.