http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/ New York art news and reviews. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:39:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-122756 Sean Capone Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:22:30 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-122756 An apology of my own: by "so-called Black Art" I am referring to this particular selection of Black American artists, alive and working since the 70s and mostly younger, which were assembled in this collection without a visibly coherent curatorial mission. I defended the show to an artist friend (who was one of many clear choices to be blatantly excluded from this survey, if we are to assume in simplistic terms that this means being an artist of African descent who is creating work that deals with issues of culture, race, class social identity or Blackness in a discursive way). I suggested that the cacophony of the show was in fact the thesis: that the diaspora of voices in black America (and not all these artists were American-born) precluded the notion of a themed identity politics that could provide a stable theme. But that's the mission of the curator, to thread the needle; raising the problem of "why pursue such a reductive and unstable criterion to start with?" An apology of my own: by “so-called Black Art” I am referring to this particular selection of Black American artists, alive and working since the 70s and mostly younger, which were assembled in this collection without a visibly coherent curatorial mission.
I defended the show to an artist friend (who was one of many clear choices to be blatantly excluded from this survey, if we are to assume in simplistic terms that this means being an artist of African descent who is creating work that deals with issues of culture, race, class social identity or Blackness in a discursive way). I suggested that the cacophony of the show was in fact the thesis: that the diaspora of voices in black America (and not all these artists were American-born) precluded the notion of a themed identity politics that could provide a stable theme.
But that’s the mission of the curator, to thread the needle; raising the problem of “why pursue such a reductive and unstable criterion to start with?”

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-315812 Sean Capone Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:22:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-315812 An apology of my own: by "so-called Black Art" I am referring to this particular selection of Black American artists, alive and working since the 70s and mostly younger, which were assembled in this collection without a visibly coherent curatorial mission. I defended the show to an artist friend (who was one of many clear choices to be blatantly excluded from this survey, if we are to assume in simplistic terms that this means being an artist of African descent who is creating work that deals with issues of culture, race, class social identity or Blackness in a discursive way). I suggested that the cacophony of the show was in fact the thesis: that the diaspora of voices in black America (and not all these artists were American-born) precluded the notion of a themed identity politics that could provide a stable theme. But that's the mission of the curator, to thread the needle; raising the problem of "why pursue such a reductive and unstable criterion to start with?" An apology of my own: by “so-called Black Art” I am referring to this particular selection of Black American artists, alive and working since the 70s and mostly younger, which were assembled in this collection without a visibly coherent curatorial mission.
I defended the show to an artist friend (who was one of many clear choices to be blatantly excluded from this survey, if we are to assume in simplistic terms that this means being an artist of African descent who is creating work that deals with issues of culture, race, class social identity or Blackness in a discursive way). I suggested that the cacophony of the show was in fact the thesis: that the diaspora of voices in black America (and not all these artists were American-born) precluded the notion of a themed identity politics that could provide a stable theme.
But that’s the mission of the curator, to thread the needle; raising the problem of “why pursue such a reductive and unstable criterion to start with?”

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-122754 Sean Capone Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:10:09 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-122754 Yeah, saying they are above criticism is a spurious apology. The Rubells are placing their collection at the center of discourse, and there were plenty of people that had questions with this selection of 30 artists as being representative of so-called 'Black Art.' The framing and flow of the work had some problems, e.g. the pairing of Mark Bradford with Basquiat. One thing to remember also is just because the Rubells are rich and connected they don't always get the best examples of an artist's work; whether that's due to the work's availability or the collector's taste is yet another question. There was some really good stuff in this show, and more than a few pieces which were mere boilerplate. People take the word 'criticism' to automatically mean 'bad'; art criticism can and should be a little more discursive, open-ended...even in a Greatest Hits show like '30 Americans.' Yeah, saying they are above criticism is a spurious apology. The Rubells are placing their collection at the center of discourse, and there were plenty of people that had questions with this selection of 30 artists as being representative of so-called ‘Black Art.’ The framing and flow of the work had some problems, e.g. the pairing of Mark Bradford with Basquiat.
One thing to remember also is just because the Rubells are rich and connected they don’t always get the best examples of an artist’s work; whether that’s due to the work’s availability or the collector’s taste is yet another question. There was some really good stuff in this show, and more than a few pieces which were mere boilerplate.
People take the word ‘criticism’ to automatically mean ‘bad’; art criticism can and should be a little more discursive, open-ended…even in a Greatest Hits show like ’30 Americans.’

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-315811 Sean Capone Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:10:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-315811 Yeah, saying they are above criticism is a spurious apology. The Rubells are placing their collection at the center of discourse, and there were plenty of people that had questions with this selection of 30 artists as being representative of so-called 'Black Art.' The framing and flow of the work had some problems, e.g. the pairing of Mark Bradford with Basquiat. One thing to remember also is just because the Rubells are rich and connected they don't always get the best examples of an artist's work; whether that's due to the work's availability or the collector's taste is yet another question. There was some really good stuff in this show, and more than a few pieces which were mere boilerplate. People take the word 'criticism' to automatically mean 'bad'; art criticism can and should be a little more discursive, open-ended...even in a Greatest Hits show like '30 Americans.' Yeah, saying they are above criticism is a spurious apology. The Rubells are placing their collection at the center of discourse, and there were plenty of people that had questions with this selection of 30 artists as being representative of so-called ‘Black Art.’ The framing and flow of the work had some problems, e.g. the pairing of Mark Bradford with Basquiat.
One thing to remember also is just because the Rubells are rich and connected they don’t always get the best examples of an artist’s work; whether that’s due to the work’s availability or the collector’s taste is yet another question. There was some really good stuff in this show, and more than a few pieces which were mere boilerplate.
People take the word ‘criticism’ to automatically mean ‘bad’; art criticism can and should be a little more discursive, open-ended…even in a Greatest Hits show like ’30 Americans.’

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-122666 Mat Gleason Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:19:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-122666 We can be against the Rubells if they cannot produce the cancelled checks to prove they completed payment for all of their art. We can be against the Rubells if they cannot produce the cancelled checks to prove they completed payment for all of their art.

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-315809 Mat Gleason Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:19:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-315809 We can be against the Rubells if they cannot produce the cancelled checks to prove they completed payment for all of their art. We can be against the Rubells if they cannot produce the cancelled checks to prove they completed payment for all of their art.

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-315810 Mat Gleason Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:19:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-315810 We can be against the Rubells if they cannot produce the cancelled checks to prove they completed payment for all of their art. We can be against the Rubells if they cannot produce the cancelled checks to prove they completed payment for all of their art.

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-122612 Anon Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:55:28 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-122612 The reason people care about these collectors is that they influence other collectors and will make certain artists "hot". Remember the LA red-eye show, lots of artists got great careers after that. They are "hip" collectors others like to imitate, and galleries obviously listen to the money trail. It's not a coincidence their shows are on during basel. They are putting their money where their mouth is, without the fake do-goodness of museums. We all know collectors, as trustees, for the most part influence A LOT of what is shown in various places. The reason people care about these collectors is that they influence other collectors and will make certain artists “hot”. Remember the LA red-eye show, lots of artists got great careers after that. They are “hip” collectors others like to imitate, and galleries obviously listen to the money trail. It’s not a coincidence their shows are on during basel. They are putting their money where their mouth is, without the fake do-goodness of museums. We all know collectors, as trustees, for the most part influence A LOT of what is shown in various places.

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-315806 Anon Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:55:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-315806 The reason people care about these collectors is that they influence other collectors and will make certain artists "hot". Remember the LA red-eye show, lots of artists got great careers after that. They are "hip" collectors others like to imitate, and galleries obviously listen to the money trail. It's not a coincidence their shows are on during basel. They are putting their money where their mouth is, without the fake do-goodness of museums. We all know collectors, as trustees, for the most part influence A LOT of what is shown in various places. The reason people care about these collectors is that they influence other collectors and will make certain artists “hot”. Remember the LA red-eye show, lots of artists got great careers after that. They are “hip” collectors others like to imitate, and galleries obviously listen to the money trail. It’s not a coincidence their shows are on during basel. They are putting their money where their mouth is, without the fake do-goodness of museums. We all know collectors, as trustees, for the most part influence A LOT of what is shown in various places.

]]> http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/comment-page-1/#comment-315807 Anon Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:55:00 +0000 http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/19/re-can-anybody-be-against-the-rubell-collection/#comment-315807 The reason people care about these collectors is that they influence other collectors and will make certain artists "hot". Remember the LA red-eye show, lots of artists got great careers after that. They are "hip" collectors others like to imitate, and galleries obviously listen to the money trail. It's not a coincidence their shows are on during basel. They are putting their money where their mouth is, without the fake do-goodness of museums. We all know collectors, as trustees, for the most part influence A LOT of what is shown in various places. The reason people care about these collectors is that they influence other collectors and will make certain artists “hot”. Remember the LA red-eye show, lots of artists got great careers after that. They are “hip” collectors others like to imitate, and galleries obviously listen to the money trail. It’s not a coincidence their shows are on during basel. They are putting their money where their mouth is, without the fake do-goodness of museums. We all know collectors, as trustees, for the most part influence A LOT of what is shown in various places.

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