Contemporary pseudo art’s stranglehold on the culture is reinforced by countless prestigious institutions—among others, my alma mater Barnard College. Since 2011, Barnard has been offering alumnae and friends a “lifelong learning” course entitled “Conversations in Contemporary Art” [more], aiming to demystify such work through an insider view of the artworld. Taught by art historian Kathleen […]
Barnard College, contemporary artThe following letter was mailed to Daniel Brodsky, Chairman of the Met Museum’s board of trustees, on September 3rd. (I insert relevant links here.) In lieu of a response from him, I received a platitudinous letter from Jessica Hirschey, the museum’s Deputy Chief Membership Officer, dated September 17. That letter is appended below, along with […]
contemporary art, Max Hollein, Metropolitan Museum of ArtFor today’s art establishment (including once-conservative institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library), contemporary art must be radically “new”—the more unprecedented or deskilled in form and transgressive or inscrutable in content the better.1 An intrepid group of dedicated contemporary artists begs to differ, however. They are the largely neglected painters […]
AICA, Anthony Baus, Carroll Dunham, Colleen Barry, David Salle, Grand Central Atelier, International Association of Art Critics, Jacob Collins, Jewish Museum, Justin Wood, Keith Haring, Metropolitan Museum, Morgan Library, Norman Kleeblatt, Phong Bui, Rachel Li, Robert Simon Fine Art, Suzaan Boettger, The Brooklyn Rail, Will St. John, Wolfgang LaibThe founding and activities of Saudi Arabia’s MiSK Art Institute ought to be good news for art lovers. As the first institute of its kind in the formerly arch-conservative Saudi kingdom, it aims to support emerging Saudi artists and increase their interaction and visibility both within and beyond the kingdom. Operating under the auspices of […]
Ahmad Angawi, Ahmed Mater, Al-Qatt, Amr Alngmah, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Dana Awartani, Edge of Arabia, Islamic art, Misk Art Institute, Rashed Al Shashei, Saudi art, Stephen StapletonWhat’s wrong with today’s “protest art”—which occupies so much of our public space? Mainly this: it’s long on protest and virtually devoid of art. That sad fact has been vividly demonstrated of late by two New York exhibitions: Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World (closed January 7 at the Guggenheim) and An […]
Ai Weiwei, animal cruelty in "art", conceptual art, Dread Scott, Elizabeth Catlett, Guggenheim Museum, Henry Flynt, Liu Xiaodong, Marcel Duchamp, Martha Rosier, Melvin Edwards, Paul Cadmus, protest art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Wang Xingwei, Whitney MuseumMarcel Duchamp’s signed urinal dubbed Fountain isn’t a work of art, “conceptual” or otherwise.1 Neither is Maurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet dubbed America (offered on loan by the Guggenheim Museum to the White House last year, in lieu of a painting by Vincent van Gogh that had been requested). They are mere artworld stunts. Isn’t it […]
contemporary art, gold toilet, Guggenheim Museum, Marcel Duchamp, Maurizio Cattelan, Nancy SpectorGoogle “Ayn Rand’s theory of art,” and the second item you will find is an article with that title in the online magazine Hyperallergic. Published in September 2012, the article—which prominently cites the book I co-authored on Rand’s theory—has been known to me for some time. But it is such a scurrilous hatchet job that […]
AICA-USA, art and politics, Ayn Rand's theory of art, Hyperallergic, Jillian Steinhauer, What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn RandSome time ago, I received a message through my website contact form that was headed “Looking for Possibility to Translate Your Book into Chinese.” Needless to say, I was delighted. After introducing himself as Chen Guang Wang, a Chinese émigré in his third year as a student of Visual Art at the Emily Carr University of […]
Chen Guang Wang, Chinese translation, contemporary art in China, understanding contemporary artThis week, September 10–16, is National Arts in Education Week—an annual event established by Congress in 2010 to celebrate the value of the arts in education and gain broad support for it. On what grounds could any civilized member of society object? The answer is that the value of arts education largely depends on the […]
4'33", Jeff Koons, John Cage, National Art Education Association, National Arts in Education Week, Oliver Herring, Richard Kessler, STEM to STEAMTwo exhibitions this spring have powerfully belied the artworld pretense that all contemporary art is in an anti-traditional “cutting-edge” vein. And unlike the contemporary work that fills today’s leading museums and galleries, they offer art lovers something to rejoice in. The smaller of the two shows is Self-Portrait (April 20 – June 20)—at the Eleventh Street […]
art education, Art Renewal Center, Classical Realism, contemporary art, self-portraits