Re. Wade Guyton at the Whitney, I guess my own take on it would be "So what?" If John Miller (whoever he is) feels slighted because he was really there first, maybe he should find a more personal form of expression, and stop playing in the pool where talent and skill mean so little. Or maybe he should just get better at pulling strings. The only thing that would really bother me is if it was being paid for with taxpayer dollars, but I don't pay American taxes (well, not very much), so it's not my problem.
I think there are a lot of things in life one just can't do very much about - in this case the decline of the American power class, symbolized by the art they seem to enjoy, and the art establishment that caters to them. Canada is only a few steps behind. But there are things in life one can do to make it richer and more satisfying, and one builds art on that. Today, I spent a lovely afternoon with a delightful model I haven't seen since May; tomorrow I continue on a series with a friend who has been going through breast cancer treatment; later in the week it's work with a couple of performers from the Halifax Circus. I'll never be rich off this (but I'll survive), and I'll never be famous, but I am content with the way the work is progressing, with the techniques and ideas I am exploring, and I am very happy with the people I work with. Whether some big money curator somewhere decides what I do is, or is not, art, is entirely irrelevant. What is important is whether I can create something that means something of value to those around me. Cheers; Chris On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 4:14 PM, William Conger <[email protected]> wrote: > No, my point is that he's not a sculptor, no matter how a monument is made, > until someone else, a curator with status abd power, says so. The > Institutional > Theory. > wc > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: ARMANDO BAEZA <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sun, September 30, 2012 1:35:19 PM > Subject: Re: today NYT > > Today "ANYONE "can create a bronze monument, any size,of anything > in a few > weeks or months, and be called a sculptor, if he can cover the cost. > > AB > ________________________________ > From: William Conger > <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, > September 30, 2012 8:11 AM > Subject: today NYT > > Take a look at today's NYT > article on Wade Gayton. He's having a solo show at > the Whitney. He doesn't > paint or draw but makes 'paintings' by computer, > printing out images he takes > from everyday print ephemera. The curator of the > show says "Wade speaks to > the way images travel across out visual culture -- on > our computers, Iphones, > televisions and books". Please note the art-speak. > What the curator could > have said in ordinary language is, "Wade copies images > from popular culture > on his big digital printer". > > My point here is that we shouldn't blame the > artists for doing transgressive > stuff or making what seems to be silly, > vacant art. There are always artists > who are doing every sort of stuff but > we never hear about them because no one is > paying them any attention at all. > It's the gatekeepers, the curators, who pick > and choose artists through the > templates of confabulatedart-speak. When the > curator says, "Wade speaks", he > implies that Wade has a thoroughly > intellectualized or analyzed position, a > stance, from which he issues a > philosophy of culture and visuality. It's > phony. Wade himself says he never > liked drawing and thinks painting is too > hard (acting out his inner Warhol). But > admitting a slacker attitude as an > artist is exactly the key, the push-button, > to provoke intense concentration > by the curator. But Wade really simply copies > images from papers and > magazines, book endpapers and the like according to whim. > His fancy printer > can blow them up to gargantuan scale (extremism at work) and > the curator can > present this ephemera as high art (extremism of intentional > conceptual > re-contextualization). > > There's an artist here in Chicago, John Miller, who > has been doing similar > computer and big digital printer art for several > years. Few have seen this work > outside of colleague artists. No Whitney > curator has called. No big collectors > are pasting his stuff to their dining > room walls on Park Avenue. The article on > Gayton makes it pretty clear that > he has changed the course of painting! No, > the curator is trying to redefine > painting and Gayton came to his attention and > thus exemplifies what the > curator has already decided is the 'next inevitable > step' (a Greenberg > phrase, I believe). Meanwhile John Miller piles up hundreds > of huge digital > 'paintings' done before Gayton bought his first pair of trendy > red tennis > shoes, that curators ignore. The curators make art, not the artists. > The > artists and their work are merely the specimens the curatorial creativity, > the footsoldiers used by imperialist, unaccountable curators. You go, Wade! > wc
