Nancy Princenthal's Art in America article on the crisis in art criticism is a must-read!
There is a current crisis not only in art itself --- and the curating of art --- but in art criticism as well. New York Times book editor Barry Gewen reflected upon the theme last month in his long, elucidating essay, "State of the Art."
Nancy Princenthal contributes a wonderful, barbed-yet-not-vicious article on the subject in the current issue of Art in America (January 2006, pp. 43-47). The title of her article is "Art Criticism, Bound to Fail; A critic confronts the inescapable limitations of writing about art and reflects on its pitfalls and privileges." This essay will be a part of the upcoming anthology Critical Mess: Art Critics on the State of Their Practice edited by another great art critic (and a poet), Raphael Rubinstein.
This is a "must read" article. I won't summarize it here, just encourage everyone to go read it! If only we could get such cogent self-analysis out of curators and other pundits, to say nothing of we artists and "hot" galleries.
This is a "must read" article. I won't summarize it here, just encourage everyone to go read it! If only we could get such cogent self-analysis out of curators and other pundits, to say nothing of we artists and "hot" galleries.
I couldn't help thinking that the article Princenthal wrote was not only applicable to critics but to artists as well, concerning in particular, their working methodologies. Especially when she refers to Peter Plagens comments on 3 types of critics: Evangelists, Cartographers and Goalies and when Princenthal concludes by saying, "There is a vaguely colonial feeling to all of them - of bold explorers setting sail, conquering new worlds, mapping what they've found, converting the unenlightened, setting up rules of governance, substantiating the pedigree of the elect, and, finally, regulating the admission of newcomers."
I also liked when she says, "The guiding question shouldn't be, why write criticism, but why make art? Sorting out the answer is where the privilege - which is immense - of being a critic lies. To participate in that dialogue, and find oneself involved in formative discussions about how art is conceived, is an honor and powerful incentive."
Kevin Freitas
Good point Kevin, about artists. The methodologies probably apply to the rest of the artworld "citizens" too, beyond critics and artists, even though her points are most apprprate to critics. You cite a well-chosen selection from the article too. As I said, everybody go read it!