The trouble with critiques of something so sprawled as the artworld or the diversity among artists' practices is that whatever you can say is true. The complexity of the situation absorbs every point of view. To say that the artowerld should do this or that, is this or that, is going here or there, is dying or being reborn, whatever you can imagine to say, is verified and falsified simultaneously. It always comes down to individual artists and critics, thinkers, philosophers, curators, etc., who, as individuals do their damned best to objectify something felt, learned, desired. Maybe they are discovered, maybe not. No guarantees.
Making art is one of the most private intellectual things a person can do. It is a solitary adventure with a public purpose. You can't turn it around so that a public adventure is a private purpose and still call it art. WC --- On Mon, 2/16/09, Chris Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Chris Miller <[email protected]> > Subject: "But if there is a crisis, it is not a crisis of pow er; its a > crisis of knowledge. Simply put, we dont kno w enough, about the past or ab > out any cultures other than ou r own." > To: [email protected] > Date: Monday, February 16, 2009, 8:28 AM > Carter wants to take artists and critics (or -- at least the > ones he knows) > out of their little insider world. > > He wants critics to study the past and cultures other than > our own, and he > wants to put art students into "hospitals, schools and > prisons, sometimes > in-extremis environments" > > So it seems that, just like Saul, he wants us denizens of > the artworld to > "re-orientate and rethink our identity - who and what > do we want to be." > > Is this just because we're now in the midst of a severe > recession ? Would > their prescription have been different 6 months ago ? > > Carter is obsessed with this recession stuff - and he > wrote a fun piece about > how the collapse of the Dutch economy in the mid 17th C. > changed the direction > of Rembrandt's painting: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/arts/design/09remb.html > (and who doesn't > love "Woman with a Pink" ?) > > But that change can also be attributed just to aging and > it's growing > awareness of mortality. It doesn't take a stock market > crash to be aware of > "sic transit gloria mundi". Life presents an > endless parade of > disappointments, tragedies, and ultimate disaster -- even > for those at the > top. > > The prescription to "re-orientate and rethink our > identity" smacks of > religious conversion -- and to borrow one of Carter's > favorite words, "that's > crazy". > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Click to see huge collection of discounted designer > watches. > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/PnY6rc1Kgo5AqInqZOmCUaYREFNYdc > gboyYBXJsI1MyuamO47oTAo/
