Sure, the follies of art-speak are easy to laugh at, but often criticism of it begins and ends with a dismissive chuckle – which ignores profounder problems. Why should academic terminology be the default vehicle for discussing art? Why is there such an emphasis on newness, schism and radicality? Even when the art itself may be enjoyably throwaway, language pins it to deathlessly auratic registers of exchange. This suggests a subliminal fear that, if the subject in question is not talked up as Big and Culturally Significant, then the point of fussing over it in the first place might be called into question, bringing the whole house of cards tumbling down - Dan Fox, the associate editor of frieze magazine, discusses the contemporary art scene in detail.
posted by The Whelk
on Apr 12, 2012 -
43 comments
Tania Blanco is a modern artist who shares her time in France and Spain. She says of her collection
Sleepdrunk Vademecum, "The body is made up of a large set of rounded painting formats. Medical instruments, high precision technology, scientific devices, anatomical models, clandestine laboratories and human representation become the object of study and thought. The bizarre represented objects reflect a mixture of past and future, and an ambiguous
clinical atmosphere flows in them. On many of these painted surfaces, a soft cool-cold gradient isolates the represented elements and gives a
non-gravitational character to the compositions." [
via]
posted by netbros
on Sep 11, 2011 -
3 comments
My earliest memory was when I was three. I had a fever and my mother was wiping a cold wet rag on my body. There were fish swimming in my room, as though I was underwater, but I could breathe just fine. That's why I was surprised to find
this. "The
contemporary art in Japan (
english) is naturally influenced by the world contemporary art. But the power of the Japanese traditions, the oppressive presence of a dense urban environment and the various traumatism undergone by Japan for 60 years (defeat of 1945, Hiroshima, earthquakes, economic crisis, etc.) involve a production very
rich,
original and
little known."
posted by sluglicker
on Jun 4, 2006 -
6 comments
Half-Life meets Matisse in a virtual reconstruction of the apartment of
Etta and Claribel Cone. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, the sisters amassed one of America's foremost collections of modern art. Today, many of the pieces can be viewed in the
Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art. As part of the 50
th anniversary celebration of the museum's acquisition of the collection, the
Imaging Research Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County designed a
digital walkthrough of their apartment so that visitors could see the art in its original context.
posted by Aaaugh!
on May 4, 2003 -
5 comments
