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The article looks at how the unruly, uncivilized domain of arts and letters is being robbed of its civilizing function. According to the author, one of the things that art can do and that urgently needs doing is to civilize the people a little. It also mentions art as being a safe place where people may nonviolently come to terms with disorienting situations and adjudicate their public and private relevance in a public discourse.

The article discusses the work of Dutch architect Joep van Lieshout and the group known as Atelier van Lieshout and the impact they have had on architecture design. The author explains that the works are revolutionary and that their architecture has declared its independence by liberating practices from formalist aesthetics. Also discussed is a controversial exhibition of architecture titled "The Good, The Bad + The Ugly" which originally took place in France during June 1998.

The article focuses on the work of African-American comedian and actor Richard Pryor. According to the author, Pryor understood that art is about using one's heart, rather than about content. The article states that Pryor was able to portray things from the inside, and that he was full of courage and candor.

The article discusses what represents being "cool." The author cites examples of irony in literature, including work by Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. The article discusses a statement in "De Oratore," by Cicero that a speaker can be judged without hearing a word, and describes U.S. Revolutionary War general and first president George Washington as having had the prerequisite quality of poise that the new country needed.

The author reflects on the structure of the song "Goodbye to Love," by the Carpenters. He believes that all the good virtues of the song "Goodbye to Love" would be cosmetic if it was not a good song as a piece of music. He refers to the essay by Leonard Meyer, in which Meyer states that works of art and music hardly fulfill the expectations of beholders or listener. The author states that he likes "Goodbye to Love" because it gives him his desire without the implication of his expectations.

The article presents a speech delivered by Dave Hickey as the 1997 keynote address to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, in which he discusses various aspects of the economics of art including government funding, the role of the artist in determining the value of art, and the possibility of artists giving away their work without payment.

The article reviews the television programs "American Visions," directed by Robert Hughes and "The Story of Painting" directed by Wendy Beckett.

The article presents a commentary on the art of motion pictures. The author mentions some films which are reflective of the narrative forms of experience and memory such as the motion pictures of Michelangelo Antonioni. The author adds that Antonioni has inculcated psychological reality into his films which are also called motion picture narratives.

The author discusses the genre of noir films, the pleasures of it and what it does for cinemagoers. He shares his experience of riding around in the flower truck with his grandfather and how it relates to his interest in films. He describes the characteristics of fictional character Philip Marlowe and how the said character influenced his views on film noir. He discusses the factors that define the sociability of films.

The article presents an obituary for U.S. actor Robert Mitchum.

The author reflects on the value of art. He shares the success of an art business that he formed in the 1970s. He shares that the first thing he learned as an art dealer was that there is no prerequisite for looking at art. He argues that art and money are not related to each other by saying that art does nothing to money but translate it, and money only helps in facilitating the dissemination of art. The author also notes that investing in art is more valuable and that money and risk vary inversely in all transactions related to art.

The author explains the different kinds of audience that support art such as those who understand what the artist is doing, those who want to imitate the artist and those who are just spectators. He also compares art in past decades from the present art pointing out that art now is divided into artists, who have been trained in different art schools, spectators who will admire the result of the training and the support worker, who will deliver the product. It is the author's view that works of art are just displayed for the strangers.

The author reflects on the significance of color to art. He described his experiences in relation to watching cartoons and recalled how he became so amazed with how art represents real-life emotions. The author also explained his views on color and its relevance to artistic works, specifically in cartoons.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of commercial art world in the 1960s.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of signing up for a seminar by refugee professor Herr Volbach in Weimar Theater.

The article analyzes the difference between written and spoken analysis of art. The author marvels that meaning of art can be objectively declared at all and that it changes with every viewer. The article compares writing which attributes meaning of a work of art for all time with speaking which is always fresh and renewed, and states that art lives in such conversations.

The author argues that works of art are frivolous objects or entities. He characterizes art objects as having no intrinsic value, acquiring value only through a complex process of socialization. He claims that the contemporary art world is in denial about the frivolity of its endeavor and in hopes of public patronage, maintains the aura of spectacular unction that signifies public virtue.