[-empyre-] the art of forgetting

[Simon Biggs]

I've never heard of John Currin and Rachel Feinstein. I googled them.
Currin's work hopes to channel Courbet but ends up looking like sub-Botero,
a sort of soft-porn Beryl Cook (just as Currin isn't known in the UK I doubt
Cook is known in the US - but google her). Worse than terrible. Painful!
Somebody paid 5.5 million for that? Must be a scam...

Googling Feinstein I found loads of pictures of her at parties but little or
no art. Is she an artist or partier? Perhaps this is the fun side of
relational aesthetics?

I find what people like this stand for, whether they are artists or not,
deeply disturbing. This is what art needs, like a hole in the head. Nobody
needs this. They look like bankers.

Let's return to the month's theme...

Best

Simon


On 13/03/2011 19:45, "Cynthia Beth Rubin" <cbr at cbrubin.net> wrote:

> 
> I agree with Simon Biggs - I do believe that this statement is true - and
> increasingly so, in a world where many artists are questioning our role
> 
>>> "It's part of the role of artists to ensure we don't forget
> 
> 
> Are we making objects or are we engaging ideas?  This is the crucial core of
> the debate.  Of course we often do both, but which do we prioritize?
> 
> No artist can escape thinking about this, especially in today's economic
> times,  where "blue chip" artists are dominating the art discussion:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/fashion/13CurrinFeinstein.html
> 
> Many of us prioritize ideas by choice.  Our wanderings in the New Media world
> may be part of this - especially for those of us who wandered into new media
> before the established "blue chip" gallery and museum world even considered
> new media as art.  We were attracted by the creative potential and little
> else. At one time ideas may have simply been compositional tensions - the
> visual equivalent of music - however one could argue that even the abstract
> formalists prompted us to "remember" as they created a contemplative space,
> which by its very nature, promotes remembering.
> 
> Now, with new media means of incorporating representational historical imagery
> and sounds into our work, more of us are exploring a variety of ways of more
> directly asking our audience to remember, and to do so from a base of the
> artistic imperative to engage the imagination beyond the obvious layer of
> direct representation.
> 
> Last year I was part of a team of artists who organized a group exhibition
> based on remembering a particular historical site, linked to a specific
> cultural heritage but attracting artist-participants from a variety of ethnic
> backgrounds.  In today's world, specific histories can speak to all of us.
> Artists can stir the imagination and engage in story-telling, and the artists
> in this exhibition did so through media as diverse as oral history listening
> stations in a "living room" installation complete with snacks; archival
> photographs assembled in a provocative collection making real the losses of
> urban renewal; a dress (made for this exhibition) with photo-transfers,
> embroidered decorative motifs, and layers of symbolism (literally).   This was
> difficult territory to navigate, in a world where many people still view
> artists as either making self-indulgent personal outpourings or making objects
> to sell. It was not without direct challenges - however the success of the
> exhibiti
>  on (about 500 people on opening day) and the requests now to work with other
> groups in organizing similar exhibitions are now pouring in.  This first
> exhibition was based on a historic synagogue (meaning that we asked artists to
> respect certain boundaries) - however our next project will be with an
> entirely different group.
> 
> The works in this exhibition were not graphic designed history lessons - they
> were true aesthetic interpretations and thoughtful, researched responses to a
> shared theme, so that the exhibition, when taken as a whole, engaged a
> historical narrative.
> 
> http://culturalheritageartistsproject.org
> (just the video is here: http://culturalheritageartistsproject.org/video.html
> 
> Cynthia Beth Rubin
> http://CBRubin.net
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre


Simon Biggs
simon at littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
http://www.elmcip.net/
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/



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