04w31:2 Jerry Saltz and Bad Reviews – Art Criticism Part 2 Posted July 27th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 31 number 2 (Jerry Saltz and Bad Reviews – a.c. part 2) ——————————————————————— Learning on the Job | Jerry Saltz http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/saltz/saltz9-11-02.asp “To me, theory and positions are important, but they often lead to dogmatic thinking, obscure writing and rigid taste. Knowing where you’re coming from means knowing what you like before you like it and hating what you hate before you hate it. This takes all the life out of art. Theory is about understanding. Art is about experience. Theory is neat. Art is not. My only position is to let the reader in on my feelings; try to write in straightforward, jargon-free language; not oversimplify or dumb down my responses; aim to have an idea, a judgment or a description in every sentence; not take too much for granted; explain how artists might be original or derivative and how they use techniques and materials; observe whether they’re developing or standing still; provide context; and make judgments that hopefully amount to something more than just my opinion. To do this requires more than a position or a theory. It requires something else. This something else is what art, and criticism, are all about”. Article Date 11 September 2002 A chat with Jerry Saltz, part one | Tyler Green and Jerry Saltz http://www.artsjournal.com/man/archives20040701.shtml#82745 “I was – and still am – sick of critics quoting from the same seven writers to support their ideas. If I read one more review that begins with a quote from Barthes or Baudrillard I’m going to slit my wrists.” A chat with Jerry Saltz, part two | Tyler Green and Jerry Saltz http://www.artsjournal.com/man/archives20040701.shtml#82777 “The one thing you don’t want to be, in my eye, is a local critic who is merely a booster, someone just writing on the artists from your zip code or gender or sexuality or political base. This is very bad. Another lucky thing about New York is our bigness. However, it’s also its great disadvantage. In London, say, everybody is sleeping together, eating together, arguing with one another? If a new artist appears, everybody in the whole termite nation is aware of that on the same night more ore less. New York is so huge that ? there are lots of different parties going on at the same time. We don’t really know about one another that much. There are many parallel art worlds in New York. I think that’s pretty exciting as long as you make it your own business to get out of your own party as much possible. ” The Art of the Bad Review | Andy Lamey http://www.walrusmagazine.com/article.pl?sid=04/06/09/1658236&tid=1 “What literature needs most is a new and abusive school of criticism. So wrote Rebecca West in 1914, in an essay called ‘The Duty of Harsh Criticism.’ Book reviewers were too kind, she argued, and literary standards debased. English departments were remarkable only for the shocking amounts of unreadable writing they produced. Then there was the ‘formidable army of Englishmen’ who had managed to become men of letters without having written anything: ‘They throw up platitudinous inaugural addresses like wormcasts, they edit the letters of the unprotected dead, and chew once more the more masticated portions of history.’ There is now no criticism in England, she concluded. ‘There is merely a chorus of weak cheers . . . a mild kindliness that neither heats to enthusiasm nor reverses to anger.’ It’s hard to believe West’s essay appeared ninety years ago; what is striking about reading it today is how familiar it sounds” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Tuesday 27 July 2004 @ 10:52 PM
04w31:1 Art Criticism Part 1 Posted July 27th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 31 number 1 (art criticism Pt 1) Being a regular reader of Sally McKay’s and Jennifer McMackon’s blogs, I’ve become entangled in a discussion and questioning of contemporary art criticism. I’ve tried to sort out the postings below, but keep in mind that the comments section of each contains more material. Along the way, Jerry Saltz pops up, who offers insight into his role as a critic in an article from two years ago. Part 2 will consist of the links to his articles, plus another related article on the need for more ‘bad reviews’ of books. – Timothy ——————————————————————— James Elkins on Our Moribund Critical Discourse | Dan Hopewell http://tinyurl.com/4qmtv “I recently digested SAIC art history smarty James Elkins’ What Happened to Art Criticism? from Prickly Paradigm Press, a problematic and at times messy essay (but one that is also thought provoking and often dead right). Of particular interest to me was Elkins’ refutation of several proposed solutions to contemporary art criticism’s woes”. Followups here and here. What Happened to Art Criticism? | Timothy Quigley http://quigley.blogs.com/asymptote/2004/07/what_happened_t.html “Dan Hopewell over at Iconoduel has a review of James Elkins’ book, What Happened to Art Criticism?. Elkins surveys the contemporary state of art criticism and examines the prospects for developing a new approach. If I read the review correctly, it sounds as if he dismisses any attempts to build on past critical traditions as hopelessly ‘nostalgic’. If that’s the case, it’s an unfortunate and untenable position”. Followup here. simpleposie question for the day #129 | Jennifer McMackon http://jennifermcmackon.tripod.com/simpleposie/index.blog?entry_id=374888 “…is prompted by a post that appeared the other day on Sally McKay’s blog with reference to a post by Dan at Iconoduel on the subject of a chapbook by James Elkins called ‘What Happened to Art Criticism’. I took umbrage with Sally for intimating that the commentary on Iconoduel (which initially consisted largely of quotations by Elkins himself but which has admirably since been readdressed) might suffice in lieu of reading Elkin’s 85 page (slimmer than the Communist Manifesto) text – and also for the suggestion that source material is no longer of interest to jaded readers of art criticism.” Who’d have thought art criticism was such a hot topic? | Sally McKay http://www.digitalmediatree.com/sallymckay/?28327 “Who’d have thought art criticism was such a hot topic? The old-style stuff was moldy and dry, the new-style stuff is either glib and undemanding, or esoteric and niche. Interesting that so many of us (myself included) seem to care about it with some sort of passion. A few months ago this blog saw a glut of posts, spurred by a panel discussion in Toronto about whether or not criticism is irrelevant. A few days ago a really good post appeared at Iconoduel, a report on James Elkins’ essay What Happened to Art Criticism? Iconoduel is a very interesting art blog from Chicago, written with insight and clarity by ‘Dan,’ who seems to have a cool and solid head on his shoulders. Read his post on Elkins (and then, like I’m thinking, you might not have to read Elkins!*).” Follow up here. Resisting the Dangerous Journey: The Crisis in Journalistic Criticism | Michael Brenson http://www.warholfoundation.org/paperseries/article4.htm “In the last few years this unofficial conspiracy of silence among critics about other critics has damaged the profession. It is not based on mutual respect and support but on self-protectiveness and laziness. It has discouraged an essential discussion of the responsibilities of critics to face issues, including the issue of criticism, and the consequences of not facing them. I believe that art criticism is failing miserably to meet the challenges of this time, and that art and artists, and indeed the artistic culture of this country, are suffering as a result. American art, artists and art institutions are struggling, and because so few critics have been willing to participate in this struggle and examine their role in its development and outcome, art criticism, as a whole, is in trouble.” —————————————- Long links made short by using TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com) To remove or add yourself to this list, go here http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com emailed by Timothy on Tuesday 27 July 2004 @ 10:09 PM
04w30:1 The Comeau Broadcasting Corporation? Posted July 20th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 30 number 1 (the comeau broadcasting corporation?) Having learned from experts the value of self-promotion, I feel today’s subject line requires some explanation. It is only that I’ve found two articles on CBC’s site – part of their ‘Arts Features’ page which pick up on a couple of things which I had noticed and commented on in my little blog I call “Commentary” and which encapsulates one of the good reads I sent out last week. It is with some embarrassment that I send out the links to my versions of these subjects, since the CBC’s writers are clearly professional while I am nothing more than a desktop dilettante. Ah well, here you go anyway. – Timothy ——————————————————————— Warrior queens and blind critics | Robin Rowland http://www.cbc.ca/arts/features/kingarthur/ “Across North America, the film critics have largely scoffed at the premise – Arthur as a Dark Age cavalry commander – and in that they have revealed a collective failure of basic journalism: accurate reporting.” In advertising, the Scots are hot | Dan Brown http://www.cbc.ca/arts/features/scots_advertising/ “It’s hard not to notice how many television commercials have Scottish characters in them these days. From the guy who gets perturbed at bar patrons who don’t treat Keith’s beer with respect to the impossibly small spokesman for Kellogg’s to the tight-fisted uncle in the Money Mart spots, the Scots are currently the most overrepresented minority in TV advertising. It’s hard not to notice these characters for one simple reason: they yell a lot. In fact, they behave exactly as non-Scottish people expect the Scottish to behave: they’re quick to anger and slow to spend money. They’re stereotypes, in other words.” Artorius Rex | Timothy Comeau http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com/commentary/2004/07/artorius-rex_07.html “What the reviews of King Arthur are failing to acknowledge – for no other reason than the apparent ignorance of the critics (otherwise I feel they should clarify their criticism with this knowledge) is that any one who has looked into this story knows, it was made up in the late Medieval Era, and further, was made up as Kingly Propaganda. It would be as if the President of the United States, seeking to assert a dictatorship, had someone write a story connecting his bloodline to the throne of England, and somehow made it seem that the Revolutionary War ended in a treaty of peace with a country later renamed Airstrip One. […] We should be aware that the ‘fictionalization’ of history has for most centuries been exactly how that field was conducted. Based on hearsay and rumour, people would write down what they’d heard – and what they heard may have included heavy doses of speculation. An oral history got taken up by Homer and turned into the Illiad; Edward I, wanting to legitimize his reign, took up the oral history of Arthur and began the process that would lead to Malory. Fictional history has for centuries also served as ‘practical history’ that is, what most people are exposed to and use in their lives, to whatever extant that history proves useful. Shakespeare’s History Plays were not going to be cross-referenced and looked into by the 16th Century audiences. They paid their penny and left the theatre knowing more about the past then they had when they’d entered.” Canada’s Angry Scotsman | Timothy Comeau http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com/commentary/2004/03/canadas-angry-scotsman.html “I’m currently a little tired of overhearing aggressive Scotsman on TV. There is currently an angry Scotsman on commercials for Alexander Keith’s, Kellog’s Nutra-Grain Mini-Bites and Money Mart. What’s horrible about them all is that they all seem based on Mike Myers’ ‘If it’s not Scottish, it’s crap!’ skit from his SNL days over ten years ago, and expanded upon in his 1993 film, So I Married an Ax Murderer. The angry Scottish father’s rant about his son’s big head is lifted almost verbatim in the Mini-Bites commercial. ” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Tuesday 20 July 2004 @ 6:22 PM
04w29:2 The Kooky Bush Administration Posted July 13th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 29 number 2 (the kooky Bush administration) ——————————————————————— Sometimes I Hate To Be Right | Mark Federman http://tinyurl.com/3nm5b “Last fall, I gave an interview to Voices Without Votes 2004 in which I speculated about the possibility of the Bush Administration delaying the election. […] A frightening prospect indeed, especially when CNN and Reuters are reporting today that the Bush Administration is investigating ways to ‘obtain the authority to delay the November presidential election in case of an attack by al Qaeda.'” Let Them Eat Wedding Cake | Barbara Ehrenreich http://tinyurl.com/3j3ng “[The Bush administration has] been avidly promoting marriage among poor women – the straight ones anyway. […] It is equally unclear how marriage will cure poor women’s No. 1 problem, which is poverty – unless, of course, the plan is to draft C.E.O.’s to marry recipients of T.A.N.F. (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). Left to themselves, most women end up marrying men of the same social class as their own, meaning – in the case of poverty-stricken women – blue-collar men. But that demographic group has seen a tragic decline in earnings in the last couple of decades.” Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness | Jeanne Lenzer http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458 “While some praise the plan’s goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public. Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 to conduct a ‘comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system.’ […] Bush instructed more than 25 federal agencies to develop an implementation plan based on those recommendations. The president’s commission found that ‘despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed’ and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for ‘consumers of all ages,’ including preschool children. According to the commission, ‘Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviours and emotional disorders.’ Schools, wrote the commission, are in a ‘key position’ to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools. The commission also recommended ‘Linkage [of screening] with treatment and supports’ including ‘state-of-the-art treatments’ using ‘specific medications for specific conditions.’ The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a ‘model’ medication treatment plan that ‘illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes.” —————————————- Long links made short by using TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com) To remove or add yourself to this list, email subscribe@goodreads.ca http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com emailed by Timothy on Tuesday 13 July 2004 @ 3:52 PM
04w29:1 June 16th Posted July 11th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 29 number 1 (June 16th) ——————————————————————— Super Theory Woman | Jerry Saltz http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/jsaltz/saltz7-8-04.asp ” On the night of June 16, 2004, I was a guest on the MSNBC talk show featuring the strangely likable, peculiarly white-under-the-eyes Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida and rabid right-winger […] The first ten-minute segment is a blur to me and seemed to last two seconds. All I remember is Scarborough coming on and asking, “Where’s the outrage?†Then I think he talked about Fraser being a prostitute and breaking the law and asked me, “If I snuck up from behind you and smashed you over the head with a brick and then poured salt in the open wound, would you call that art?†All I could think to answer was “That would be bad art, Joe.†I did pointedly ask if either of them had actually seen Fraser’s videotape. Unsurprisingly, neither had, to which I said something like, “Oh, so you’re like those people who ban books without reading them.†[…] whether you like it or not, Fraser should be commended for doing something brave, and in the middle of a minefield. Outside the art world she will be labeled a slut and a nut. The art world will likely call her a narcissistic showoff. But the art world is a place that says that you should be free.” Joyce’s long-lost, lustful letter smashes auction record | CBC http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/07/09/Arts/sexyjoyce040709.html “The famously erotic missive, initiated by an equally explicit first letter from Barnacle, includes Joyce’s recollection of past sexual encounters with Barnacle describing the time she had opened his trousers and ‘made a man of him’ – and shares his ‘ungovernable lust’ for her. Calling Barnacle ‘my darling little blackguard’ and ‘my strange-eyed whore,’ the letter is signed ‘heaven forgive my madness, Jim.’ Joyce and Barnacle met in Dublin on June 16, 1904 – the day he later immortalized in his masterwork Ulysses. Later that year, they left Dublin and never returned together to Ireland. They married in 1931, about a decade before the author’s death. “ Abracadabra , The Magic of Theory | Timothy Comeau http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com/commentary/2004/06/abracadabra-magic-of-theory.html “Here’s the thing. I’m an artist, so I think I can say I know how the creative process works. I think I’ve had enough dealings with other artists to know that this is usually how it works for most of us. And my feeling is that she thought this guy was hot and wanted to do him; further, she had the wherewithal to frame it within the context of her practice and using a magic spell of theory was able to get her sextape on the wall. She didn’t even give it a title, which is really revealing. Unlike Paris Hilton, who was famous for her green-light blowjobs before her ignorance of Wal-Mart, this from the get-go was meant to be shown off, but it was also an excuse for Fraser to get laid. All well and good and I congratulate her on her cleverness and the originality of her seduction. But the work does not ‘raise ethical and consensual terms of interpersonal relationships’. It’s a simple porn. It might raise these issues if you were an alien. Let’s ignore for a second how typically pathetic that press release is and just assume that all art galleries are currently engaged in the same bullshit, thinking this is what we – an audience of intelligent people – want and expect. And that I think that’s what I finally understand – the art-world orients itself to non-humans. The texts that accompany art works are meant to explain them to dolphins, squid, elephants and ravens, or whatever intelligent non-human life is in outer space. To entertain the ‘questions raised’ is to enter a state where we deny our common humanity for the cheap thrill of speaking of a sex video in terms of the sociological, something most likely done with others in a social situation to begin with, and something that has been done to death already to no apparent end.” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, email subscribe@goodreads.ca emailed by Timothy on Sunday 11 July 2004 @ 6:30 PM
04w28:1 Jane Jacobs & Robert Hughes Posted July 4th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 28 number 1 (Jane Jacobs & Robert Hughes) Thanks to Pete Dako, I think I’ve now got the RSS feed on the homepage working correctly. In addition, I think my webpage was drunk, given that the design was all wonky there back and forth for a bit. What can I say, it’s been that kind of month. The new RSS url, which should work in all newsreaders, is http://feeds.feedburner.com/goodreads/oGln . For those of you currently subscribed to the feed, I would suggest resubscribing. In addition, sending out these regular got a little spotty last month since it’s now summer and all. Who wants to sit in front of computer reading? So, I imagine that it might remain a little spotty over the next couple of months and I’m sure none of us will mind. – Timothy ——————————————————————— War? Terrorists? No, Here’s What’s Really Scary | Clifford Krauss http://tinyurl.com/2sqym “In reaching her gloomy conclusions, Ms. Jacobs barely skims over such possibilities of calamity as terrorism, nuclear war and environmental degradation. Rather, she calls those mere symptoms of what she views as more fundamental, less obvious ailments: the breakdown of the family, the decline of higher education, lapses of modern science, tax systems that do not distribute money fairly and the inadequate self-regulation of professions. These, for her, are signs that the very pillars that support society are rotting. She says it is natural for societies to ‘make mistakes and get off balance,’ but then they correct themselves. ‘What seems different about this situation is the stabilizers themselves are in trouble,’ she said one recent afternoon. ‘If the stabilizers go, what do we depend on?’ “ That’s showbusiness | Robert Hughes http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1250525,00.html “Too much has happened in art. Not all of that ‘too much’, admittedly, is compelling or even interesting, but the ground is choked with events that defy brief, coherent summary. […] Most of the ‘1980s artists’ over whom such a fuss was made have turned out to be merely rhetorical, or inept, or otherwise fallen by the wayside. […] Styles come and go, movements briefly coalesce (or fail to, more likely), but there has been one huge and dominant reality overshadowing Anglo-Euro-American art in the past 25 years, and The Shock of the New came out too early to take account of its full effects. This is the growing and tyrannous power of the market itself, which has its ups and downs but has so hugely distorted nearly everyone’s relationship with aesthetics. […] The art world is now so swollen with currency and the vanity of inflated reputation that it is taking on some of the less creditable aspects of showbiz. […] Showbiz controls journalism by controlling access. The art world hopes to do the same, though on a more piddly level. No other domain of culture would try this one on. “ —————————————- Long links made short by using TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com) To remove or add yourself to this list, email subscribe@goodreads.ca http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com emailed by Timothy on Sunday 04 July 2004 @ 1:10 PM
04w27:2 Religion? Posted July 3rd, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 27 number 2 (religion?) ——————————————————————— Fight the power | James Verini http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4960930-110760,00.html “Only a quarter century into its history, hip-hop has not only taken over American popular culture, but it has also gained a surprising respect among the intelligentsia. […] On the other side of the debate there are not as many prominent voices. In fact, there is really only one: John McWhorter, a black professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, and an unabashed opponent of rap. McWhorter finds the music pernicious and humiliating. He thinks of it as the musical manifestation of the worst traits of black America, particularly, and America generally. […] Ask McWhorter the question he’s been asked countless times since throwing his hat into the ring several years ago: why does he hate rap? Surprisingly, he says he doesn’t. ‘I like listening to rap, actually; the problem is that it’s very, very catchy. The poetry is interesting, the rhythms are fantastic. But when I hear it, I hear it from a distance. For some people this music is a religion, and I don’t mean religion in a hyperbolic way. It’s at the point where a lot of people have never known the world without it. It’s all the music they listen to. They wake up to it, they lose their virginity to it, they go to sleep to it, it’s what they hear when they go to clubs. They have a vague sense of it as part of some political movement. It’s a body language, it’s a way of speaking. It’s a creed. It’s literally a religion.'” In Art We Trust (Since We Can’t Explain It) | Mia Fineman http://tinyurl.com/38ak6 “‘Artists are the new clergy, the monks and nuns of our day,’ he said. ‘When you see a man dressed in black walking down the street in Los Angeles or Manhattan, is he more likely to be a priest or an artist?’ […] In his current ‘Art Ministry’ project, Mr. Melamid uses religion as a lens through which to examine the ingrained pieties and genius worship of museum culture. ‘The whole idea of art is based on belief,’ he said in an interview after the lecture. ‘You cannot explain it, you cannot understand it. Just try reading art criticism — all you can do is have faith.’ While the project has its parodic aspects — the Art Ministry’s motto is ‘Close your mind, open your eyes’ — he insists that his message is sincere, asking, in his heavy Russian accent, ‘Why the truth cannot be funny?'” —————————————- Long links made short by using TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com) To remove or add yourself to this list, email subscribe@goodreads.ca http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com emailed by Timothy on Saturday 03 July 2004 @ 2:25 PM
04w27:1 The MBA Posted July 2nd, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 27 number 1 (the mba) ——————————————————————— Business embarks on design revolution | Harvey Schachter http://tinyurl.com/32sth “‘I would argue that to be successful in the future, business people will have to become more like designers,’ he writes in Rotman Management. ‘This shift creates a huge challenge, as it will require entirely new kinds of education and training, since until now, design skills have not been explicitly valued in business.’ His comments come as The Harvard Business Review, in its look at breakthrough business ideas for 2004, suggests that the MFA — Masters of Fine Arts degree — has become the new MBA, essential currency for a business career.” Is MBA degree a sham? | Ellen Roseman http://tinyurl.com/3as6x “Last year, the Harvard Business Review asked 200 business intellectuals who they admired most. Peter Drucker got the most mentions, but Mintzberg wasn’t far behind. This well-known academic no longer works with full-time MBA students. He thinks teaching methods are outdated and irrelevant. ‘Management is a practice that has to blend a good deal of craft (experience) with a certain amount of art (insight) and some science (analysis),’ he says in the 460-page book, which expands on views he has held for years. Current management education over-emphasizes the science — using case studies and analytical models — and results in a new style of ‘heroic’ managing that Mintzberg calls ‘pervasive and destructive.'” —————————————- Long links made short by using TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com) To remove or add yourself to this list, email subscribe@goodreads.ca http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com emailed by Timothy on Friday 02 July 2004 @ 4:14 PM
