contemporary anachronisms

As one of those painters who really thinks a study of the 19th century is far more important and useful than studying the 20th, I 'm going to spend a couple of days milling about the Art Renewal Center with the intent of filing a report back. I am hoping someone else will too, and I'll post your conclusions here if you haven't got the space for it!! (You know who you'ze are !!)

ARC bill themselves as the largest museum on the internet !! And they do have a lot of really stunning looking art, also... a lot of weird regressive screeds about and against "modernism." A first glance at their site is a bit like walking into a Greek diner in Queens, you know the ones with the naked art noveau ladies pouring water and flowers and shit all over the crystal and the marble.... but gimmie a few days. This is one of my early attempts at upgrading the level of reader involvement and I thought it would be fun, possibly humorous, probably I might learn something.

Image: from the ARC musem, Jose Gallegos y Arnosa (1859-1917), An Important Visitor, Oil on panel, 6 x 8 ^5/8 inches (15.5 x 22 cm), Private collection