We’re still working on getting the comment system fixed but in the meantime a few comments came in that I’ll respond to here in the main post. My Jorge Pardo review will wait until we can have a proper pile-on.
Ian Aleksander Adams writes:
Personally, I don’t really like the login comment system. I understand where it’s coming from, but since I have to shuffle a couple different “identities” it’s kind of pain to login and logout at different places that share login infrastructure (basically, one acct for chatting about comics… a lot, that links back to my little comic site and one for art and everything else that links back to my personal site) Wish there was a way to solidly link them and select which to display as/link to in some kind of drop down.
Tom here: Ian, Paddy is considering some other options. I am passing this along to her via the “frog mailbox.”
Following up on Monday’s discussion of the Anne Truitt show (comments for that have disappeared but we’re working on reinstating them), DWBG writes:
Hmm. One point Brian raised still stands. What role does [Truitt's] provincial origin have in your placement of her work? Regardless of [her] specific place in any given canon, the use of the word “provinces” carries a ring like the word “commoner” — and is equally problematic when used un-self-consciously, which it seemed to be here. I am aware of the argument that regions become important art historically (Rome, Paris, etc.), but surely you do not mean that non-important regions therefore by definition produce non-important art. And of course, ‘important’ is a moving target. Otherwise, looking forward to seeing your post on Pardo!
Tom here: DWBG, you are correct that regions do become important art historically. I think it should be possible to discuss this without saying “of course good art can be made at any time anywhere in the world.” It is a fact that rapid changes in style and theory can happen in a place and if you stop following those, move to a cabin, and say “All I need is this here paintbrush and my creative soul!” you risk making art that is provincial. I felt Brian was contradicting himself, saying on the one hand “good art can be made anywhere” and on the other, “what if Truitt had gotten more prominent play in New York in the early ’60s?” (Not his exact words.) You are either participating in a certain discourse or you are not. I feel she was not, or if she was, “look how well I paint these columns!” was not enough considering what happened in the transition from minimalism to post-minimalism, earth art, etc. Addendum: having spent time in both DC and NY I believe the former is highly provincial, which is why I hoot when Tyler Green tries to cut the weak deer out of the New York herd from his blind in the nation’s capital.
If you have comments to the above, please hold them till we give the all-clear that comments are working again. Otherwise you risk talking to the frog mailbox. [hat tip to Stage at dump.fm for the frog]
