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AFC Responds to Art Critics: Get Real!

by Art Fag City on March 15, 2010 · 84 comments

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON
Installation view of Skin Fruit at The New Museum

Art critics just don’t get it. Cronyism is a fact of life, and the sooner we start acting like doormats, the less The New York Observer’s Adam Lindemann will have to think about such pesky subjects. Here’s a list of reasons Lindemann offers in support of the New Museum’s “Skin Fruit” an exhibition of work culled from Dakis Joannou’s collection and curated by Jeff Koons and why he’s wrong.

Lindemann: Museums don’t have enough money to run properly, so this show is a solution.

AFC: This sucks, but it’s not like the only option at a museum’s disposal is to borrow from a collector who’s on their board and hire an artist who has no experience curating to organize the show. The New Museum could always launch fewer shows. I’d rather see a few really good exhibitions than a lot of crappy ones.

I should note that while I am sympathetic the idea that perhaps the museum got caught in a tough time, and this solution was the best they had, naming Jeff Koons as the curator undoes a fair amount of good will I’m willing to lend. It’s like the museum had a competition to come up with the show that employed the largest number of poor decisions.

Lindemann: But thunder has been drained from museums and commercial galleries are launching better shows.

AFC: That’s not true. The Met’s Picture Generation was better than any show I saw at a commercial gallery last year, including Gagosian’s much lauded Manzoni retrospective or Picasso (“uncut” as I like to call it). I’m tired of hearing about how the slanted scholarship of commercial venues bests the work of that done at Museums.

Lindemann: Sometimes a show devalues the work in a collection. Why isn’t anyone talking about that?

AFC: Typically in the lead up to a museum exhibition the value of the artists in these shows increases, regardless of whether it falls after the case. It seems exceedingly unlikely that Dakis Joannou would not profit in some way from this show.

Lindemann: In America, when you accept someone’s money there are strings attached. As such, we should just accept the fact that Joannou chose his friend Jeff Koons to curate the show, because if the museum didn’t it would loose Joannou’s support.

AFC: This is speculation and therefore not an argument for anything.

Lindemann: Joannou is not underwriting the show.

AFC: Good.

Lindemann: MoMA director Glenn Lowry told me museums are not a democracy and I believe him! The New Museum should work with their friends if they want.

AFC: Connections oil the art world, but they aren’t and shouldn’t be the only lubricant. The New Museum needs look beyond it’s doorstep every once and a while if it wants to build a reputation as a world class institution.

Lindemann: The idea that it’s wrong of museums to hang work that is potentially for sale is crazy!

AFC: I wasn’t aware there was much debate on this subject. What ethical debates over The Whitney Biennial and Younger Than Jesus have I been missing?

Barbara Bloom, An Artist-Curator at the Jewish Museum Pulse Draws More Visitors Intro to The Art World: A Beginners Reading List

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  • Brian

    >>By these stardards the show is a failure.

    Wish I could articulate my opinions this fast and easy. Never entirely sure a failure is just a failure, or a cigar a cigar . . .

  • http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City

    Spend five years blogging and you too will have this skill.

  • http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City

    Spend five years blogging and you too will have this skill.

  • http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City

    Spend five years blogging and you too will have this skill.

  • http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City

    Spend five years blogging and you too will have this skill.

  • http://www.artfagcity.com Art Fag City

    Spend five years blogging and you too will have this skill.

  • Some Painter

    One point that is totally wrong in Adam Lindemann’s article is that Dakis Joannou did not ask Jeff Koons to curate this show. The New Museum did.

  • Some Painter

    One point that is totally wrong in Adam Lindemann’s article is that Dakis Joannou did not ask Jeff Koons to curate this show. The New Museum did.

  • some curator

    Than New Museums are kind of real bores too!
    The curating of the show is not any good.

  • some curator

    Than New Museums are kind of real bores too!
    The curating of the show is not any good.

  • some curator

    Than New Museums are kind of real bores too!
    The curating of the show is not any good.

  • some curator

    Than New Museums are kind of real bores too!
    The curating of the show is not any good.

  • some curator

    Than New Museums are kind of real bores too!
    The curating of the show is not any good.

  • some curator

    Than New Museums are kind of real bores too!
    The curating of the show is not any good.

  • Bruno

    Lindemann: MoMA director Glenn Lowry told me museums are not a democracy and I believe him! The New Museum should work with their friends if they want.

    Response to Mr Lindemann:
    Museums may not be democratic. But they still benefit from tax exemptions. That means that the taxes that the State doesn’t collect from museum trustees and donors cannot be used for other important things such as schools, highways, better subways, (missiles, nuclear bombs, etc.) That’s why some people get angry when they see a museum become a private club…

  • Bruno

    Lindemann: MoMA director Glenn Lowry told me museums are not a democracy and I believe him! The New Museum should work with their friends if they want.

    Response to Mr Lindemann:
    Museums may not be democratic. But they still benefit from tax exemptions. That means that the taxes that the State doesn’t collect from museum trustees and donors cannot be used for other important things such as schools, highways, better subways, (missiles, nuclear bombs, etc.) That’s why some people get angry when they see a museum become a private club…

  • Bruno

    Lindemann: MoMA director Glenn Lowry told me museums are not a democracy and I believe him! The New Museum should work with their friends if they want.

    Response to Mr Lindemann:
    Museums may not be democratic. But they still benefit from tax exemptions. That means that the taxes that the State doesn’t collect from museum trustees and donors cannot be used for other important things such as schools, highways, better subways, (missiles, nuclear bombs, etc.) That’s why some people get angry when they see a museum become a private club…

  • Bruno

    Lindemann: MoMA director Glenn Lowry told me museums are not a democracy and I believe him! The New Museum should work with their friends if they want.

    Response to Mr Lindemann:
    Museums may not be democratic. But they still benefit from tax exemptions. That means that the taxes that the State doesn’t collect from museum trustees and donors cannot be used for other important things such as schools, highways, better subways, (missiles, nuclear bombs, etc.) That’s why some people get angry when they see a museum become a private club…

  • Bruno

    Lindemann: MoMA director Glenn Lowry told me museums are not a democracy and I believe him! The New Museum should work with their friends if they want.

    Response to Mr Lindemann:
    Museums may not be democratic. But they still benefit from tax exemptions. That means that the taxes that the State doesn’t collect from museum trustees and donors cannot be used for other important things such as schools, highways, better subways, (missiles, nuclear bombs, etc.) That’s why some people get angry when they see a museum become a private club…

  • http://thirddecade10.blogspot.com/ deepblue

    Hi, I see a lot around the argument corruption sucks but if the artworks are good lets focus on the good aspects and Joannou is actually making us a favor for showing such great artists.

    I dont agree. Even if the show was any better (some critics went as far as to say that it is good, but then again, everything is ‘good’ if you really have the Poets urge…), it is our responsibility as citizen of a democracy and not of a ‘circle of friends’ to put forward our scepticism on what seems to be corrupted in our foremost cultural sector: public museums.

    I am against conceptual art but even if Joannou collected the most exquisit dutch masters (which Koons collects btw….) I would still find a problem here. (so many ppl accuse those of us ‘moralists’ for not merely liking this kind of art when this is not true, the fact that i choose to be open and state that I dont like conceptual art is my own sense of ‘ethics’)

    Anyway, I am angry with the way some journalists and critics dared to cover up all sceptics and find no flaw but they even went further, as i said, accusing the sceptics as ‘moralists’ (and not simply as moral ppl), making us appear like a bunch of loonies in a perfectly round world that doesnt need them. We are needed! Since those near to the world-changing powers (the wealthy, the ‘capital’ if you prefer) in media and institutions are not going to speak up.

    It is also their duty in my opinion to anser to sceptics with the level of frankness and intellectual sincerety that is expected from people in the high levels of culture.

  • http://thirddecade10.blogspot.com/ deepblue

    Hi, I see a lot around the argument corruption sucks but if the artworks are good lets focus on the good aspects and Joannou is actually making us a favor for showing such great artists.

    I dont agree. Even if the show was any better (some critics went as far as to say that it is good, but then again, everything is ‘good’ if you really have the Poets urge…), it is our responsibility as citizen of a democracy and not of a ‘circle of friends’ to put forward our scepticism on what seems to be corrupted in our foremost cultural sector: public museums.

    I am against conceptual art but even if Joannou collected the most exquisit dutch masters (which Koons collects btw….) I would still find a problem here. (so many ppl accuse those of us ‘moralists’ for not merely liking this kind of art when this is not true, the fact that i choose to be open and state that I dont like conceptual art is my own sense of ‘ethics’)

    Anyway, I am angry with the way some journalists and critics dared to cover up all sceptics and find no flaw but they even went further, as i said, accusing the sceptics as ‘moralists’ (and not simply as moral ppl), making us appear like a bunch of loonies in a perfectly round world that doesnt need them. We are needed! Since those near to the world-changing powers (the wealthy, the ‘capital’ if you prefer) in media and institutions are not going to speak up.

    It is also their duty in my opinion to anser to sceptics with the level of frankness and intellectual sincerety that is expected from people in the high levels of culture.

  • http://thirddecade10.blogspot.com/ deepblue

    Hi, I see a lot around the argument corruption sucks but if the artworks are good lets focus on the good aspects and Joannou is actually making us a favor for showing such great artists.

    I dont agree. Even if the show was any better (some critics went as far as to say that it is good, but then again, everything is ‘good’ if you really have the Poets urge…), it is our responsibility as citizen of a democracy and not of a ‘circle of friends’ to put forward our scepticism on what seems to be corrupted in our foremost cultural sector: public museums.

    I am against conceptual art but even if Joannou collected the most exquisit dutch masters (which Koons collects btw….) I would still find a problem here. (so many ppl accuse those of us ‘moralists’ for not merely liking this kind of art when this is not true, the fact that i choose to be open and state that I dont like conceptual art is my own sense of ‘ethics’)

    Anyway, I am angry with the way some journalists and critics dared to cover up all sceptics and find no flaw but they even went further, as i said, accusing the sceptics as ‘moralists’ (and not simply as moral ppl), making us appear like a bunch of loonies in a perfectly round world that doesnt need them. We are needed! Since those near to the world-changing powers (the wealthy, the ‘capital’ if you prefer) in media and institutions are not going to speak up.

    It is also their duty in my opinion to anser to sceptics with the level of frankness and intellectual sincerety that is expected from people in the high levels of culture.

  • http://thirddecade10.blogspot.com/ deepblue

    Hi, I see a lot around the argument corruption sucks but if the artworks are good lets focus on the good aspects and Joannou is actually making us a favor for showing such great artists.

    I dont agree. Even if the show was any better (some critics went as far as to say that it is good, but then again, everything is ‘good’ if you really have the Poets urge…), it is our responsibility as citizen of a democracy and not of a ‘circle of friends’ to put forward our scepticism on what seems to be corrupted in our foremost cultural sector: public museums.

    I am against conceptual art but even if Joannou collected the most exquisit dutch masters (which Koons collects btw….) I would still find a problem here. (so many ppl accuse those of us ‘moralists’ for not merely liking this kind of art when this is not true, the fact that i choose to be open and state that I dont like conceptual art is my own sense of ‘ethics’)

    Anyway, I am angry with the way some journalists and critics dared to cover up all sceptics and find no flaw but they even went further, as i said, accusing the sceptics as ‘moralists’ (and not simply as moral ppl), making us appear like a bunch of loonies in a perfectly round world that doesnt need them. We are needed! Since those near to the world-changing powers (the wealthy, the ‘capital’ if you prefer) in media and institutions are not going to speak up.

    It is also their duty in my opinion to anser to sceptics with the level of frankness and intellectual sincerety that is expected from people in the high levels of culture.

  • http://thirddecade10.blogspot.com/ deepblue

    Hi, I see a lot around the argument corruption sucks but if the artworks are good lets focus on the good aspects and Joannou is actually making us a favor for showing such great artists.

    I dont agree. Even if the show was any better (some critics went as far as to say that it is good, but then again, everything is ‘good’ if you really have the Poets urge…), it is our responsibility as citizen of a democracy and not of a ‘circle of friends’ to put forward our scepticism on what seems to be corrupted in our foremost cultural sector: public museums.

    I am against conceptual art but even if Joannou collected the most exquisit dutch masters (which Koons collects btw….) I would still find a problem here. (so many ppl accuse those of us ‘moralists’ for not merely liking this kind of art when this is not true, the fact that i choose to be open and state that I dont like conceptual art is my own sense of ‘ethics’)

    Anyway, I am angry with the way some journalists and critics dared to cover up all sceptics and find no flaw but they even went further, as i said, accusing the sceptics as ‘moralists’ (and not simply as moral ppl), making us appear like a bunch of loonies in a perfectly round world that doesnt need them. We are needed! Since those near to the world-changing powers (the wealthy, the ‘capital’ if you prefer) in media and institutions are not going to speak up.

    It is also their duty in my opinion to anser to sceptics with the level of frankness and intellectual sincerety that is expected from people in the high levels of culture.

  • Brian

    I agree with Deepblue. There is so much faux criticism surrounding these conflicts of interest that both the politics of the critique itself and the analysis of art (which is really the central concern) gets lost in a whirlwind of hyperbole and overstatement. We all need to breathe in through our noses and out through our mouths for a bit to properly evaluate these complicated situations, whether it involves public museums, private collections or commercial galleries.

    One thing that these kinds of blogs, unfortunately, help to foster is a forum where opinion (which is largely irrelevant in actual criticism) dominates and people feel entitled to say something is good, bad or ugly without any critical scaffolding to support their claims. It’s easy to say something is bad. It’s difficult to unpack why or, god forbid, suggest alternatives.

    Too much simple dismissiveness on display and not enough actual experience or time put into thinking through these issues. Intellectual sincerity is a good call.

  • Brian

    I agree with Deepblue. There is so much faux criticism surrounding these conflicts of interest that both the politics of the critique itself and the analysis of art (which is really the central concern) gets lost in a whirlwind of hyperbole and overstatement. We all need to breathe in through our noses and out through our mouths for a bit to properly evaluate these complicated situations, whether it involves public museums, private collections or commercial galleries.

    One thing that these kinds of blogs, unfortunately, help to foster is a forum where opinion (which is largely irrelevant in actual criticism) dominates and people feel entitled to say something is good, bad or ugly without any critical scaffolding to support their claims. It’s easy to say something is bad. It’s difficult to unpack why or, god forbid, suggest alternatives.

    Too much simple dismissiveness on display and not enough actual experience or time put into thinking through these issues. Intellectual sincerity is a good call.

  • Brian

    I agree with Deepblue. There is so much faux criticism surrounding these conflicts of interest that both the politics of the critique itself and the analysis of art (which is really the central concern) gets lost in a whirlwind of hyperbole and overstatement. We all need to breathe in through our noses and out through our mouths for a bit to properly evaluate these complicated situations, whether it involves public museums, private collections or commercial galleries.

    One thing that these kinds of blogs, unfortunately, help to foster is a forum where opinion (which is largely irrelevant in actual criticism) dominates and people feel entitled to say something is good, bad or ugly without any critical scaffolding to support their claims. It’s easy to say something is bad. It’s difficult to unpack why or, god forbid, suggest alternatives.

    Too much simple dismissiveness on display and not enough actual experience or time put into thinking through these issues. Intellectual sincerity is a good call.

  • Brian

    I agree with Deepblue. There is so much faux criticism surrounding these conflicts of interest that both the politics of the critique itself and the analysis of art (which is really the central concern) gets lost in a whirlwind of hyperbole and overstatement. We all need to breathe in through our noses and out through our mouths for a bit to properly evaluate these complicated situations, whether it involves public museums, private collections or commercial galleries.

    One thing that these kinds of blogs, unfortunately, help to foster is a forum where opinion (which is largely irrelevant in actual criticism) dominates and people feel entitled to say something is good, bad or ugly without any critical scaffolding to support their claims. It’s easy to say something is bad. It’s difficult to unpack why or, god forbid, suggest alternatives.

    Too much simple dismissiveness on display and not enough actual experience or time put into thinking through these issues. Intellectual sincerity is a good call.

  • Brian

    I agree with Deepblue. There is so much faux criticism surrounding these conflicts of interest that both the politics of the critique itself and the analysis of art (which is really the central concern) gets lost in a whirlwind of hyperbole and overstatement. We all need to breathe in through our noses and out through our mouths for a bit to properly evaluate these complicated situations, whether it involves public museums, private collections or commercial galleries.

    One thing that these kinds of blogs, unfortunately, help to foster is a forum where opinion (which is largely irrelevant in actual criticism) dominates and people feel entitled to say something is good, bad or ugly without any critical scaffolding to support their claims. It’s easy to say something is bad. It’s difficult to unpack why or, god forbid, suggest alternatives.

    Too much simple dismissiveness on display and not enough actual experience or time put into thinking through these issues. Intellectual sincerity is a good call.

  • sasha

    The cool guys club has been established and nobody is supporting the young artists these days. So i agree with mim, they are keeping the big guys big, it’s as if there is no room for a fresh breeze of air that is sorely needed at this point in time. Thanks again money. Why don’t people like the “skin fruit” show? is it maybe a little seen already? I think the answer might be yes. Art is supposed to stick a finger in the eye of society, when and why did that stop being the prerogative?
    “Museums don’t have enough money to run properly, so this show is a solution.” really?

    Common, you guys. You are the NEW Museum, make your own friggin’ rules! Be creative! I think that it’s sad when the creative professionals of this world lack creativity, maybe that means it’s time for a new generation to step up. Perhaps the reason you aren’t doing so great is because you are playing it safe as shit. Art was never about comfort.

    http://sophieok.blogspot.com/

  • sasha

    The cool guys club has been established and nobody is supporting the young artists these days. So i agree with mim, they are keeping the big guys big, it’s as if there is no room for a fresh breeze of air that is sorely needed at this point in time. Thanks again money. Why don’t people like the “skin fruit” show? is it maybe a little seen already? I think the answer might be yes. Art is supposed to stick a finger in the eye of society, when and why did that stop being the prerogative?
    “Museums don’t have enough money to run properly, so this show is a solution.” really?

    Common, you guys. You are the NEW Museum, make your own friggin’ rules! Be creative! I think that it’s sad when the creative professionals of this world lack creativity, maybe that means it’s time for a new generation to step up. Perhaps the reason you aren’t doing so great is because you are playing it safe as shit. Art was never about comfort.

    http://sophieok.blogspot.com/

  • sasha

    The cool guys club has been established and nobody is supporting the young artists these days. So i agree with mim, they are keeping the big guys big, it’s as if there is no room for a fresh breeze of air that is sorely needed at this point in time. Thanks again money. Why don’t people like the “skin fruit” show? is it maybe a little seen already? I think the answer might be yes. Art is supposed to stick a finger in the eye of society, when and why did that stop being the prerogative?
    “Museums don’t have enough money to run properly, so this show is a solution.” really?

    Common, you guys. You are the NEW Museum, make your own friggin’ rules! Be creative! I think that it’s sad when the creative professionals of this world lack creativity, maybe that means it’s time for a new generation to step up. Perhaps the reason you aren’t doing so great is because you are playing it safe as shit. Art was never about comfort.

    http://sophieok.blogspot.com/

  • sasha

    The cool guys club has been established and nobody is supporting the young artists these days. So i agree with mim, they are keeping the big guys big, it’s as if there is no room for a fresh breeze of air that is sorely needed at this point in time. Thanks again money. Why don’t people like the “skin fruit” show? is it maybe a little seen already? I think the answer might be yes. Art is supposed to stick a finger in the eye of society, when and why did that stop being the prerogative?
    “Museums don’t have enough money to run properly, so this show is a solution.” really?

    Common, you guys. You are the NEW Museum, make your own friggin’ rules! Be creative! I think that it’s sad when the creative professionals of this world lack creativity, maybe that means it’s time for a new generation to step up. Perhaps the reason you aren’t doing so great is because you are playing it safe as shit. Art was never about comfort.

    http://sophieok.blogspot.com/

  • sasha

    The cool guys club has been established and nobody is supporting the young artists these days. So i agree with mim, they are keeping the big guys big, it’s as if there is no room for a fresh breeze of air that is sorely needed at this point in time. Thanks again money. Why don’t people like the “skin fruit” show? is it maybe a little seen already? I think the answer might be yes. Art is supposed to stick a finger in the eye of society, when and why did that stop being the prerogative?
    “Museums don’t have enough money to run properly, so this show is a solution.” really?

    Common, you guys. You are the NEW Museum, make your own friggin’ rules! Be creative! I think that it’s sad when the creative professionals of this world lack creativity, maybe that means it’s time for a new generation to step up. Perhaps the reason you aren’t doing so great is because you are playing it safe as shit. Art was never about comfort.

    http://sophieok.blogspot.com/

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