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Post #835 • July 21, 2006, 9:51 AM • 12 Comments

The website and blog of Danny Gregory, via The Morning News.

"I view illustration and design as equal partners in the creative process. The tutorials on this site are geared to equip the creative in their pursuit of artistic excellence." Von. R. Glitschka, at illustrationclass.com. (Drawn)

"The Eyebeam OpenLab is seeking a new round of R&D Fellows to work on experimental creative technology projects. We want artists, hackers, designers, craftsters, and engineers to come to Eyebeam for a year to develop pioneering work in the public domain." (Kottke)

"In 1956, Maurits Cornelis Escher completed a drawing called 'Print Gallery'. The drawing depicts a young man looking at a print in a gallery that is deformed almost beyond recognition. There is an enigmatic white area in the center of the image. In 2003, a group of mathematicians at Leiden University, led by Prof. Hendrik Lenstra succeeded in unraveling the mathematical structure of the image. Once this structure was known, they could 'complete' the image by filling in the famous white spot with the help of a computer algorithm." (Digg)

"Mainstream media refuses to treat the arts with the same depth and passion as they do politics and sports. Why? It is partly because editors confuse support for the arts with marketing. At its rare best, personality-fixated features provide information. Most of the time, however, celebrity-driven puffery and lightly disguised publicity releases encourage the downward spiral in writing about the arts." Bill Marx, in his swan song at WBUR, which is replacing him with an arts reporter "to bring the station's website and overall arts coverage more in line with the station's mission," as the Globe reported. I've been trying to write something about this all week, and haven't come to any profound conclusions except that to the extent that Artblog.net has more or less officially aligned itself with art commentary rather than art world commentary (except when I don't get out, like this week), it is either serving an increasingly unmet need, or once again finding itself on the wrong side of history. (New tagline: "Artblog.net - Proudly on the wrong side of history since 2003.") (Assist from MK)

The art of Dennis Hwang, famous around the world.

Department of Skills: Paul Simon, whose latest album, a collaboration with Brian Eno, has been in constant rotation chez Artblog.net for the past several days.

Comment

1.

Marc Country

July 21, 2006, 12:50 PM

Bill Marx, continued:
"The country's arts culture, if it is to be about ideas and values rather than celebrity and consumption, needs independent, honest criticism that passionately asserts standards of excellence and tackles significant issues. The community of readers and listeners that loyally followed (and argued with) the views in the magazine and with my broadcast reviews proves there is an appetite for provocative talk about the arts."

Amen!

2.

oldpro

July 21, 2006, 4:00 PM

I tried to get on his blog and say keep on with the good work but I found it impossible to figure out or even read.

Maybe someone better at this than I am can write a note on it and tell him about artblog,

3.

Jack

July 21, 2006, 9:15 PM

From the linked Globe piece:

Sam Fleming, WBUR's managing director of news and programming, characterizes the change as a way to bring the station's website and overall arts coverage more in line with the station's mission.

``Our main mission is to provide news and analysis," Fleming said during a phone interview yesterday.


So what's art criticism if not analysis? Is this doublespeak, or is this guy's dictionary different from mine?

4.

Ho hum

July 22, 2006, 1:41 AM

"So what's art criticism if not analysis?"

irrelevant?

5.

oldpro

July 22, 2006, 7:48 AM

Maybe so, Ho.

Make a case for it.

6.

Marc Country

July 22, 2006, 11:39 AM

"Irrelevant" to what, exactly, Ho?

7.

Marc Country

July 22, 2006, 11:42 AM

Oh, wait... I see what Ho hum is saying... Any "Art criticism" that is not 'analysis' is irrelevant.

Yeah, I'd go along with that one...

8.

Jack

July 22, 2006, 3:16 PM

It certainly appears to be irrelevant to Mr. Fleming, which he's entitled to believe, only he won't come out and say so, naturally. I don't know how these corporate types can possibly expect to sound even remotely credible when they waffle and dodge like this. The insincerity is palpable and painfully obvious, but still they shovel the stuff like they're dealing with halfwits. If nothing else, it's insulting.

9.

?

July 23, 2006, 6:03 AM

sad

10.

Franklin

July 23, 2006, 7:01 AM

Indeed, ?, it's a sad time for criticism. His blog asks if anyone would be interested in hosting his site. I e-mailed him to discuss it, but the only address I can find is his BUR address. Does anyone have another? I refuse to create a Blogger account just so I can comment on his blog.

11.

Jack

July 23, 2006, 10:32 AM

Well, part of the problem here is that the art establishment, from which the WBUR management is at least partly taking its cue, does not want or encourage or promote real art criticism. Bad for business, as in sales. Better to foster mindless "open-mindedness" so that everything is "validated" and thus marketable. The higher and more stringent the standards, the harder it is to satisfy them, which would shrink considerably the amount of product that can be moved, or at least reduce prices significantly. The bottom line is money, along with its usual dubious corollaries, not the quality of art.

12.

oldpro

July 23, 2006, 12:35 PM

Yes, Jack, that's the basic, realistic dynamic.As long as art remains the very popular commodity it is today there is not much that can change this.

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