Art Curatorial Musings

Renowned Art Historian and Writer Terry  Smith on Mapping the Global Art World & Activism

  Plundering From Within

 

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 For the sake of discussion, let's perform a short easy thought experiment by creating a set of given assumptions. First let's assume Picasso's Guernica is an ideal example of political art that represents the most compelling argument against war. And, virtue signaling aside, let's all agree that war is so bad that the argument is sufficient to change a person's mind. And, at least by contemporary standards, it is a example of great art by a recognized great artist. The thought experiment is this.  Can you name a single potential war that was stopped because humanity reveres this painting? What about violent conflicts?  Anything come to mind? Now if you've gotten this far and you still can't think of anything significant and true, the question becomes what if the painting was not an abstract image but just the words 'Stop War'? Here it's a bit more speculative. Do you think that message, clear as day, would stop an act of violence anywhere in the...

It seems to me that so many of the criticisms of Art institutions and Art practice have a very simple way of being resolved. And that is by teaching the basics of cultural civics. In other words, Art (for Art's Sake) is an exclusively human endeavor.  The animal kingdom is colorful and sports an occasional mating, trained, or otherwise co-incidental activity that can be aesthetically pleasing enough to be labeled as 'art'. And because humans are political about all kinds of human activity, art itself has become hostage to the whinings. Regardless of the pet peeve, it seems to me that the cure is to develop a generational cohort of individuals who will bear personal responsibility for correcting these perceived aesthetic injustices. A course can and should be developed that encourages individuals to buy art that they feel strongly about.  So an understanding of how to budget for art might be one component of such a course. How inexpensive or expensive is it really to buy art...