Underlying image, Ad Reinhardt’s “Abstract-Painting No 4” (1961) via
“
And now that museums have become increasingly tied to corporate sponsorship — or, in the case of the Guggenheim, become multinationals themselves — this too affects our interpretation of art history. The wall label accompanying James Rosenquist’s 1997 painting ‘The Swimmer in the Econo-mist (painting 2)’ — whose format looks a lot like his famous critique of American militarism and consumerism from 1964-65, ‘F-111’ — comes as a bit of a shock: The newer painting, we are told, was commissioned by Deutsche Bank in conjunction with the Guggenheim and celebrates the post-cold-war global economy, paying ‘tribute to industrial growth and capitalism.’
This description certainly rings odd in the context not just of ‘Pop Icons’ but also of the recent worldwide protests against corporate capitalism (not to mention a threatened boycott by a group of international artists of the Guggenheim’s franchise under construction in Abu Dhabi over working conditions for laborers at the site, which was announced last March and was still in place last fall).
But this is just another reminder to stay alert when viewing art objects. Art history, like fiction, is very much a constructed narrative. The trick is to avoid letting it become a science fiction that takes you over and sends you down the spiraling ramp and out of the Guggenheim in a zombielike state.
”—
Martha Schwendener, New York Times, January 12, 2012
(Source: The New York Times)
<3 of $ + “good” PR + “controversial” artist + dumb public =
“Oh man, what a gag! Cattelan totally hung all his work from the ceiling of the Guggenheim! Next.”
“Anyone who teaches visual art is familiar with the following problem. Two seemingly opposite pedagogical poles appear to be collapsing. On one side is the singularity of artistic vision expressed as a commitment to a particular material or medium. On the other is an ever-increasing pressure on students to work collaboratively through social and participatory formats, often in a public context outside the white cube. One of the most common catchall terms for the latter tendency is social practice art. Currently, there are about half a dozen college-level programs promoting its study. However, if you include the many instructors who regularly engage their students in political, interventionist, or participatory art projects, the tilt toward socially engaged art begins to look more like a full-blown pedagogical shift, at least in the United States. The studio art classroom, as opposed to the lecture hall or seminar space, is where these contradictions are most apparent, and often most disarming…”
— Gregory Sholette, in the current issue of e-flux journal. (via grupaok)
“So I’m going to lay this down, just to clarify, so that nobody from the future gets confused: we hate this shit. Everyone hates this shit. These spots reflect nothing about how we live, see, or think, they’re just some weird meme for the impossibly rich that nobody knows how to stop.”
— http://www.artfagcity.com/2012/01/04/hirsts-spotted-at-gagosian/
The authoritative voice.
