Dave Hickey no longer writes a monthly column for Art in America, but thank the gods Peter Plagens still does. Plagens is an artist, but also one hell of an incisive writer who writes with that sense of irony which makes anything I read these days worth reading. His almost-monthly columns have a way of clarifying reality, if only for a few minutes before the miasma takes over once more. Recently he was on a couple of panel discussions; and in this month's issue of AIA he writes about that. The fog clears for a few moments:
... [to Irving Blum (proprietor of the great Ferus Gallery, site of Andy Warhol's first solo show as a pop artist) and David Deitch, the New York dealer recently appointed director of the Museum of Comtemporary Art in LA] I did however pose a final question: "We're here at a giant art fair, probably the most important one in the world where contemporary art auctions make the news not only in the arts sections of newspapers but in the front pages. Some dealers-- Larry Gagosian and Eli Broad, for example -- are more famous these days than artists. Irving, you made history with your life in the art market. Jeffrey, you got your job at MOCA substantially because of your reputation as a dealer. so my question is, 'With regards to contemporary art and the contemporary art market, have we come to the point where the tail is wagging the dog?'"
The answers I got were politic...
...I was struck--gobsmacked might be more accurate--- by how, in an art world where 1970's "pluralism" has grown like kudzu into a devouring relativism that has obliterated the contours of "quality", people can still talk with such suave assurance about "good art", "appropriate" prices and "the right things". ...
p. 43, AIA October, 2010
one more voice in the wilderness
"Raving Artist" might be a misleading title. Yes I usually rave, and yes, I am more of an artist than not, depending on the definition of the word. But most of the stuff I write here is not about art. In the end, this is just one more blog about nothing in particular by nobody in particular. I write because I like to do it; or more specifically, because "vira e mexe" ("every now and then", but more like "every now") something tweaks me and compels me to do it. I find that this is as good a place as any in which to dump my thoughts; and moreover, I am always pleasantly surprised when someone actually reads it. ...That being said, I do feel guilty about the ridiculously enormous amounts of energy it takes to run the servers that power our contemporary living.... oh well, outasite outamind...
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