The very paradigm of revolution, of right versus wrong, good versus bad, is a relic with no bearing on the present. Yet artists, exhibitions, and curators valorize the sixties. People who wrote about these artists 30 years ago still write about them in the same ways, often for the same magazines.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the persistent glorification of past artistic movements despite their outdated perspectives.
Jerry Saltz reflects on how the narrative of revolution and morality in art has become obsolete, yet there remains a nostalgia for the artistic expressions of the 1960s. He argues that art critics and institutions continue to elevate these past works without recognizing that their frameworks may not hold relevance in today’s context.
In practice
In an art seminar discussing the relevance of modern art, this quote serves to challenge the audience's understanding of historical art movements.
'Untitled' is a time machine that can transport you to 1992, an edgy moment when the art world was crumbling, money was scarce, and artists like Tiravanija were in the nascent stages of combining Happenings, performance art, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, and the do-it-yourself ethos of punk. Meanwhile, a new art world was coming into being.
Artists working for other artists is all about knowing, learning, unlearning, initiating long-term artistic dialogues, making connections, creating covens, and getting temporary shelter from the storm.
I have a soft spot for art that, in terms of subject matter and material, is in bad taste.
The giant white cube is now impeding rather than enhancing the rhythms of art. It preprograms a viewer's journey, shifts the emphasis from process to product, and lacks individuality and openness. It's not that art should be seen only in rutty bombed-out environments, but it should seem alive.
In art, scandal is a false narrative, a smoke screen that camouflages rather than reveals. When we don't know what we're seeing, we overreact.
I don't often go to curator or artist walk-throughs of exhibitions. For a critic, it feels like cheating. I want to see shows with my own eyes, making my own mistakes, viewing exhibitions the way most of their audience sees them.
See, a painting is much cheaper than making a film. And photography is, you know, way cheap. So if I get an idea for a film, there are many ways to get it together and go realise that film. There's really nothing to be afraid of.
Only the free-wheeling artist-explorer, non-academic, scientist-philosopher, mechanic, economist-poet who has never waited for patron-starting and accrediting of his co-ordinate capabilities holds the prime initiative today.
As a composer at a point where I can absolutely pick and choose what I want to do, I don't want to write about anybody I don't care about.
The art of stone in a Japanese garden is that of placement. Its ideal does not deviate from that of nature.
A work of art has an author and yet, when it is perfect, it has something which is anonymous about it.
Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.
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