I have never understood why the Art World has always made such a big deal of her stuff. And I've finally accepted that maybe I just do not have my "viscera" sufficiently in tune with hers in order to get it. I've seen a documentary about her and like her even less; but then, who am I....
While leafing through the paper magazines, I was also surfing the net to compliment my reading when I ran into an interview with Rosalind Krauss. I got angry at Krauss for saying that even as an artist comes into his/her own through repetition, she hates printmaking (the embodiment of repetition and my medium of choice); but imagine my delight when I read the sentence that follows!
I hate installation art, and my hatred energizes me in relation to the book I’m now writing on the medium. I just hate it. I think it’s pandering, like belly dancers shaking their stuff and trying to seduce the viewer. I find it utterly meretricious. I especially hate the installations of Louise Bourgeois, a not very interesting artist who has been hyped up partly because she’s an old lady.
I feel less alone! Though, in truth, I believe the Art World likes Bourgeois because she made penises while also being old. I think it was her french "je ne sais quoi" in openly talking about sex while also being old that attracts the Art World. A world of people who believe themselves to be the coolest thing since sliced bread, but who, as a whole, strike me as being totally repressed. But again, who am I....
...and mind you, I don't necessarily mean the artists are repressed, they're just "the labor"...
As to repetition and printmaking, I understand why Krauss says what she does; but I disagree that the medium is at fault.
The way that an artist secures the nature of his support as a medium is to continue to work at it, repeating it. The repetition is very important.....Yet, I have to say I hate the medium of printmaking.
