[syndicate] Re: "A Small Note"

[Michael Watson]

Road to Nowhere? Art's Conceptual Cul-de-sac.

http://fp.ignatz.plus.com/roadtonowhere.htm

"The conceptual artist, to his credit, is rarely less than well
read and culturally informed. He is, therefore, painfully aware of
what has already been done and by whom. He’s also aware of how
interpretations can change with mainstream assimilation and the
benefit of hindsight. Consequently, the artist is wary of being
earnest or bold, or of showing overt sentiment -just in case such
unambiguous commitment should seem naïve or cheesily melodramatic
at some point in the future. He is, at best, ‘playful’. In
addition, he’s fearful of inadvertently repeating what has been
done before, which would be wasteful of his talents and, more to
the point, uncool. As history accumulates, the space left to him
diminishes. Inevitably, he arrives at a uniquely post-modern
nightmare: with all of popular culture and art history at his
fingers, the conceptual artist is, with awful irony, confined by
self-regard and rendered impotent through knowledge. And, finally,
what is left? A joke, sneerily told, laughing at itself."

© David Thompson 2002 


--- Are Flagan <areflagan at transcodex.net> wrote:
> So, quit kidding around, is it dying or not? I pay a lot for my
> connection
> and will cancel pronto if I am simply plugged into a decaying
> corpse.
> Please, be serious.
> 
> -af
> 
> > 
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