Painting After Art is Dead

Or at least it was this last week. And I did pretty good, I think, at this not-job.

I wrote about my j-o-b recently, which I like. The challenge of beach as a “job” is actually not making it feel like a job. And I don’t mean “work,”- I’m not talking about things that one does that take effort, like writing this blog. I made a few boundaries for myself for the trip, one of which was using the positive energy and space away from any formal responsibilities outside of making meals that take an hour or more to prepare, and hoping some topic of interest just popped up. No, by “not feeling like a job” I mean really giving in to the whole vibe, and not making being carefree something that takes conscious work.

So yeah we watched the Barbie movie. And made a lot of references to this line by Ken. I’m “just…” (fill in the blank). As I began to write I was thinking of “just” as an adverb, in which role “just” can have various meanings: recently; exactly or precisely; only or merely; really or absolutely (adds emphasis to a statement); or simply/basically- in this case, being “just beach”, for example. 

All of the uses have a limiting factor. As someone who talks and writes and thinks about “and” so much, “just” brought some stuff up for me.

We talked at one point about all the memories that the house we were staying in likely contained, for both the owner’s family, and many others. We watched families all around us, since there isn’t much on Holden except beach houses, so family time is the whole vibe. I tried to keep my phone out of my hand or pocket, and was mostly successful (mostly– we were making some memories and our family enjoys scrolling our camera roll sometimes as much as the next set of Joneses). I’m glad, and grateful, that one of my main memories was just how pleasant and relaxed the whole vibe was.

Yes, I did also think about “just” as an adjective while beaching it, not basically (“just”) because of the delicious contradiction that it can function as both an adjective and adverb. Or America Ferrera’s monologue in the movie where she lays out the general sitch for every American woman how struggles to “just”… What is “just” came up for many of us because it means “fair” (also rightful or deserved) and let’s be honest, everyone “deserves” a vacation, right? Thank you to every culture out there on the planet that prioritizes time away from work, I hope we’ll catch on here eventually.

Hakim Bishara over at Hyperallergic recently put us all on notice that the rumors of criticism’s demise are premature. Bias aside- they are the editor of a clearly important nationally circulating if insularly NY/LA focused periodical- I don’t think I’d have to convince any of you that I don’t think art writing is dead. Art, maybe. Which would have been my point if asked to write a piece on this topic. We’ll get to that. Maybe.

Hakim does answer who “they” are. I’ll give you a hint, you know “them”- among them are one, other critic of note and their last name begins with an “R” and rhymes with “tub and sign”. I’m sure Hakim’s sample set of three (says the guy writing an article based on a sample of one) is just a teaser of all the things they have written. I certainly wouldn’t claim to read all the things, so… I’m not sure what has motivated Hakim to write this piece either, since the referenced take-downs of criticism are two decades old or more (James Elkin’s pamphlet What Happened to Art Criticism is from ’03).

Let’s get a couple of obvious things out of the way. Like Hakim’s quote that criticism is “taking on new forms, shedding old skin, and adapting to novel venues.” I mean, hooray to see criticism changing- everything else is, so, seems appropriate. And the main fizzle of course is the just general… appropriateness of critics criticizing criticism and other critics. An alternative and fine title for his essay would have been “things that happen.” Of course, Hakim reverts to form (as a believer). He does in fact tell us what Art criticism is- specifically good criticism- because apparently that’s what critics can’t avoid. Judgement. Sometime of “them*.” Again, things that happen. *yes, we’ll get to that, too. Maybe.

“Yes” it’s well and good that Hakim points out “gone are the days when an insular clique of critics had the ability to make or break artists’ careers.” He’s spot on that. As I understand, the collections of essays he’s referencing, “they” are more than a little chapped about the present dispersion of power and the disdain for the prior, “king-making” mode of criticism from the last century. ;tldr things aren’t serious enough. Or perhaps in some cases something more like “no one can say what’s really on their mind anymore” which hews dangerously close to the pernicious culture of western chauvinism that is currently having a big cultural moment at the expense of everything else including good (and I do mean that) Art writers like Hakim.

I’ve written about evaluation before (tldr to make the point that “Art has a cultural importance today that perhaps it hasn’t had in some time and for which we should be grateful”). I didn’t write that blog because I make any money or receive any commendation for this work (although maybe a little social capital, tbd) but because, as Hakim points out, I love this writing thing and I persist, as does he, out of a belief in the value of the things about which I’m writing. I’m trying to create an “us.” I think that’s in large measure why I enjoyed Hakim making an honest effort to work through these thoughts that were on his mind.

Can one have a definition of us without a “them”? I think so, and have written in the past about the importance critique can have, not to other, but to create connection and increase awareness of both self and that which is outside of self. I also think (and suspect Hakim would agree ) that art writing that creates value focuses on the latter and not the former.