Blair Kamin, on Criticism

What makes a good critic?

Someone who loves the art, and can come with passion and wit to it. Ada Louise Huxtable is fearless, and not just funny but witty. She’s able to crystallize, with distillations like the "Lollipop Building." They’re distillations that delight, that create pleasure. It’s the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.

There’s fearlessness too – an ability to shape and influence the debate, and not waiting until it’s too late. It’s a matter of sticking your neck out and doing it early before decisions are reached that are very important.Who are you writing to with your column?I don’t write down, but try to raise standards up. To communicate intelligently is essential – to bring intelligence to the lay person, and to command the respect of the profession. It’s often achieved with the simile or the metaphor. You’ve got to get people to taste the difference between the bad and the good. I think the genius of Frank Gehry is his ability to communicate with a down-home, streetwise panache of Columbo, like a rumpled Peter Falk – you know, "the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park is like a bouquet of flowers…"