Art Is...

Anyone who has spent any time in an art gallery is familiar with the sorts of descriptions and analyses normally attached to various exhibits. These represent attempts by the artist, gallery, or outside critics to put into words the kinds of statements believed to be advanced by the works themselves. The average art enthusiast (and perhaps artist, for that matter) routinely interacts with these descriptions in a largely passive manner, allowing the written interpretation and the work being interpreted to meld into one experience.

These days, there are more than enough critics writing publicly in response to works of art and larger art exhibits. The purpose of this blog is to instead present a series of reactions to the ways in which art is presented verbally and intellectually. If these latter descriptions and interpretations are worthwhile (and anything more than simple nonsense), then it should be possible to respond to them on their own terms. In the responses to follow, I hope to vindicate these writings and demonstrate that they are indeed more than simple nonsense. But it is up to the reader to judge my success.

I encourage the artists and theorists I write about to send me their responses. The hope is to begin a kind of theoretical conversation.