Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Wite Out Chicago




Maybe they're trying to prove the point that all bloggers are stupid. Via AFC, we're pointed to Ruth Lopez's gross assertion that:

The artist/writer role has always existed, bravo—go hang out at the College Art Association. But having read a fair amount of artist/writers, interviewed artists (many brilliant, inarticulate ones) and having waded through my share of ridiculous “Artist Statements,” I know that what we need does not exist outside of our field.
Oh really. I had a roommate (Hi Jennifer) who used to keep TimeOut New York inconveniently near the door of my bathroom, and after a year or so of thinking I had been shitting my brains out I realized that I was definitely becoming stupider from reading this advertising dependent, public-relations driven drivel.

One of the reasons that artists are writing is because advertising dependent media has become swamped in the idea (if you can call it that) that any puff piece of copy next to a snappy picture is "journalism." Another reason is that in the past 25 years of ONLY advertising supported media, our culture has sunk into the toilet. Luckily we have listings magazines to reprint press releases, but they still can't direct you to what culture is left. For that, hopefully you have friends and acquaintances. Ideas, well we are working on it, but it is pretty plain what failed: Advertising Supported Media AND the CAA (God they make me even angrier than TimeOut).

The better questions are still about how to maintain integrity in-spite of your MySpace profile.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous9:46 AM

    Arghh! What a horse's ass. Look I've waded through endless garbage statements that are loaded with nonsense, made up words and broad comments that say the most inane things - not to mention no conception of english grammar. That's not so much the failing of the artist but the failing of the education system and its over emphasis on studio courses and little to no courses in the humanities - thank you CAA! The dirth of high school education is key here too. A close friend teaches Comp. and Rhetoric at a university and all of his students are weak writers at the freshman level, no matter their GPA. It does seem glaringly obvious to me that the artists that write coherently generally studied something other than art at some point or have taken great pains to become a good writer through extensive reading and practice. But again we have another dipshit telling artists to shut up and let someone else "more qualified" think and speak for them. I seem to remember R.B. Kitaj getting smeared for daring to write critically of his own work! How dare you write or say what you are actually doing! When did Timeout become a legitimate arena for art criticsm in the first place?

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