Category: visual

A show of political art at Arizona State University focuses on presidential democracy. But Richard Nilsen writes that it’s difficult for contemporary art to not be partisan. And is that bad? “It raises in important question about politics and art: Can they be reconciled? Politics is about answers; art is about questions. Politics is about taking sides; art is about ambiguity. Politics is about making a commitment; art is about exploring all the options. Politics values simplicity; art values complexity. And, worse for the sake of visual art, politics is about words; art is about things.”

“When New Times first reported that the exhibition was being planned and included many anti-Bush works, Aeizona State University administrators promised that the show would not go on unless it was politically balanced. More than 400 pages of e-mails and correspondence written as far back as February through July 21 between museum staff, ASU administrative officials and the artists who were asked to participate in the show reveal how this ‘balance’ was achieved: Anti-Bush works were eliminated; museum director Marilyn Zeitlin allowed work she called ‘mediocre’ to be included; and ASU administrators with no background as curators, including President Michael Crow, weighed in on the content.”

“Victoria painter Mark Neufeld is off to Berlin after winning the inaugural CAN$25,000 Joe Plaskett Foundation Award, one of the largest visual-arts awards in Canada. The new annual prize, eligible to students across Canada who are studying for their master of fine arts, or have attained an MFA this year, is designed to support a one-year residence in Europe. Most notable about the award — besides its rich purse — is that it is only available to painters.”

“The problem: An art trade fair that for 25 years has strip-mined the Midwestern collecting community, resulting in high-ticket dealers and big-spending buyers who no longer come. The solution: Next year hold three. How much does it take to see that this is not an answer?” Chicago actually tried the multiple-fair idea a decade ago, says Alan Artner, and the results were underwhelming. Yes, Art Chicago needs to reexamine itself, but the new push to become “the art fair of the people” seems doomed to failure, since the whole point of an art fair is to pander to the moneyed crowd that wants nothing to do with popular culture.

“Although there has been a dialogue between film and visual art since film was invented, you can’t simply compare a feature film with static art. But put the film in an art gallery and implicitly that is what you are doing. You are inviting comparison, not with the films that struggle to survive in the hard commercial world of the cinema, but with the art forms you expect to find in the gallery. And expectation is a key part of it.”

“Tracey Emin, not everybody’s cup of tea, was officially declared a great artist yesterday when the Tate galleries revealed that they had bought eight of her works in a rare bulk deal.”

There’s a long proud tradition of political protest art. But though passions are high in this political season, the quality of the little political art that is being produced makes little impact. So why?…

With the Pew and Rockefeller Foundations withdrawing funding for the annual American artist representation at the Benice Biennale, the selection process is in flux. “The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (BECA) has indicated that it is unprepared to take over. Consequently, it appears the Guggenheim Foundation may gain control of the selection process for the American Pavilion in 2005 by default.”

“For centuries, Michelangelo’s statue of David has been regarded as the epitome of male beauty and perfection, but now it is claimed he is more an example of human frailty, a physical wreck whose poor posture would result in a bad back, a weak hip and ankles and poor flexibility.”

Edinburgh’s museums saw a huge increase in visitors this summer – a 24 percent increase…