A provocative essay, Ann! I don't know enough about movies to comment, but I know enough about art and politics to know that true revolutions in art (at least in Western culture) have been few and far between, and most of the time, changes in art are a matter of evolution, not revolution, But just like political revolutions, when an art revolution happens, it's when old ways are perceived as so oppressive and restrictive that enough people say, "Forget about reforming any of this shit; let's just start over." In politics, of course, lots of revolutions have ended in misery. In art, the revolutions have been explosive in yielding new forms of art.
In our pluralistic, basically tolerant-of-everything-and-anything-including-the good-the-bad-and-the-ugly art world, sustained almost entirely by money, and culturally negligible compared to movies, it's hard to see how conditions can reach the boiling point for there to be a revolution in art. The "system," as it were, can endlessly crank out cloned, epigonous artists--artists who, in their longing to be original and famous, unknowingly repeat, tickle, and add fancy tech to what was started in the 60s and 70s. Sure, art today is bigger and more spectacular than art a half century ago, and has socio-political content that it didn’t have then, but formally, everything going on now was going on back then.
This is why I think it unlikely that we'll see a revolution in art equivalent to the Renaissance or Cubism coming anytime soon. Both of those revolutions happened because the pressure of the times constrained artists striving to do something new. Some might think we’re now in an age where the possibilities for new art are exhausted, but isn’t that beyond hubristic? I think the real problem is that the democratic spirit that makes all of us tolerant of all forms and styles mitigates against revolution.
Well said. If Refik Anadol, mentioned in the post I wrote on art an AI, can become rich and famous and hailed as revolutionary, then we're living in silly times. An art historian friend, who was a famous Titian scholar, used to say that what made the Renaissance and Cubism so potent was a "paradigm shift," and how this happens is hard to explain. Many historians and scholars have tried to grapple with these ideas....I was just noodling around in my lackadaisacal way when I opened with the notion of formula. Maybe you'll do another essay for me?
Thanks for the newsletter and the inclusion of the Nicolas Africano sculpture.
When I worked at CCA in the 1990's, and ran the visual arts program for Bob Gaylor, one of my favorite exhibitions that I dealt with was the one for Nicolas Africano-- "Innocence and Experience"-- in the way back machine-- I think it was from 1992. I thought Africano's sculpture was so haunting and exquisite and I loved it.
But for the life of me I could NOT remember his name in the fast forward machine, try as I might. But as soon as I read his name in your newsletter, Voila! At last, the missing person comes back 30 plus years later...
The art world is a funny animal. On one hand it proclaims to be looking for fresh and innovative work. On the other, galleries and curators want to be able to put the work in a “ niche”, so they can market it successfully. If work is truly innovative ( and good) it often is deemed too hard to categorize to be part of the ecosystem
That's why brave galleries are so important, but it's hard to know how to goose curators to get out of their offices to go look. This has been a problem ever since I started writing about art in the 1990s. I doubt the situation is better now.
Good points. And if you live long enough you can absolutely predict what is coming next in almost any plot. I am often admonishing the TV or the painting or the plot of a book with "tell me something I don't know!" Maybe that's why we get a bit crabbier as we age...?
I know I get crabbier about the kind of slop dished out to us everywhere. And this is why having critics you trust is critical, though art criticism is being wiped off the planet and so we'll just have to use our own eyes.
I was appalled, for instance, at all the praise heaped on The Pitt, and almost no mention of its predecessor.
Great newsletter Ann. I was lucky to paint next to Nicolas Africano at Illinois State University for a short time. The great Professor Harold Gregor was inspiring. D.
A provocative essay, Ann! I don't know enough about movies to comment, but I know enough about art and politics to know that true revolutions in art (at least in Western culture) have been few and far between, and most of the time, changes in art are a matter of evolution, not revolution, But just like political revolutions, when an art revolution happens, it's when old ways are perceived as so oppressive and restrictive that enough people say, "Forget about reforming any of this shit; let's just start over." In politics, of course, lots of revolutions have ended in misery. In art, the revolutions have been explosive in yielding new forms of art.
In our pluralistic, basically tolerant-of-everything-and-anything-including-the good-the-bad-and-the-ugly art world, sustained almost entirely by money, and culturally negligible compared to movies, it's hard to see how conditions can reach the boiling point for there to be a revolution in art. The "system," as it were, can endlessly crank out cloned, epigonous artists--artists who, in their longing to be original and famous, unknowingly repeat, tickle, and add fancy tech to what was started in the 60s and 70s. Sure, art today is bigger and more spectacular than art a half century ago, and has socio-political content that it didn’t have then, but formally, everything going on now was going on back then.
This is why I think it unlikely that we'll see a revolution in art equivalent to the Renaissance or Cubism coming anytime soon. Both of those revolutions happened because the pressure of the times constrained artists striving to do something new. Some might think we’re now in an age where the possibilities for new art are exhausted, but isn’t that beyond hubristic? I think the real problem is that the democratic spirit that makes all of us tolerant of all forms and styles mitigates against revolution.
Well said. If Refik Anadol, mentioned in the post I wrote on art an AI, can become rich and famous and hailed as revolutionary, then we're living in silly times. An art historian friend, who was a famous Titian scholar, used to say that what made the Renaissance and Cubism so potent was a "paradigm shift," and how this happens is hard to explain. Many historians and scholars have tried to grapple with these ideas....I was just noodling around in my lackadaisacal way when I opened with the notion of formula. Maybe you'll do another essay for me?
Thanks for the newsletter and the inclusion of the Nicolas Africano sculpture.
When I worked at CCA in the 1990's, and ran the visual arts program for Bob Gaylor, one of my favorite exhibitions that I dealt with was the one for Nicolas Africano-- "Innocence and Experience"-- in the way back machine-- I think it was from 1992. I thought Africano's sculpture was so haunting and exquisite and I loved it.
But for the life of me I could NOT remember his name in the fast forward machine, try as I might. But as soon as I read his name in your newsletter, Voila! At last, the missing person comes back 30 plus years later...
The art world is a funny animal. On one hand it proclaims to be looking for fresh and innovative work. On the other, galleries and curators want to be able to put the work in a “ niche”, so they can market it successfully. If work is truly innovative ( and good) it often is deemed too hard to categorize to be part of the ecosystem
That's why brave galleries are so important, but it's hard to know how to goose curators to get out of their offices to go look. This has been a problem ever since I started writing about art in the 1990s. I doubt the situation is better now.
It’s worse now
Well, you're at the frontlines so you would know. I'm sorry....
Good points. And if you live long enough you can absolutely predict what is coming next in almost any plot. I am often admonishing the TV or the painting or the plot of a book with "tell me something I don't know!" Maybe that's why we get a bit crabbier as we age...?
I know I get crabbier about the kind of slop dished out to us everywhere. And this is why having critics you trust is critical, though art criticism is being wiped off the planet and so we'll just have to use our own eyes.
I was appalled, for instance, at all the praise heaped on The Pitt, and almost no mention of its predecessor.
Plus ça change
Great newsletter Ann. I was lucky to paint next to Nicolas Africano at Illinois State University for a short time. The great Professor Harold Gregor was inspiring. D.
I don't know Harold Gregor but I'll look him up.