Circa 122: Review
Critical mess: art critics on the state of their practice
Critical mess: art critics on the state of their practiceis a map of the anxieties held by a (the?) very small class of named art critics about the nature and function of contemporary writing on art. The ‘mess’ of the title signals a difference from previous characterizations of a contemporary ‘crisis’ in art criticism. Rubenstein states in the introduction that ‘crisis’ implies a condition that can be overcome, while ‘mess’ means hopelessness. Critical mess aims to figure and analyze the mess, but the essays here are also arguably testament to whatever we might understand as a mess or crisis for art criticism. The essays are by turns paranoid (James Elkins), defensive and bitchy (Jerry Saltz), delusional (Lane Relyea), damning (JJ Charlesworth), resigned (Eleanor Heartney), cynical (Michael Duncan) and mean-spirited (Peter Plagens). These critics are not the only included, but the others do little to alleviate a sense of this collection as largely wretched.
The claim that contemporary art critics do not or can not make value judgments more or less frames the collection. The reasons for this ostensible failure include the lack of common standards in a pluralistic era and the neutering of criticism’s potential power by the increased capacity of curators, collectors and museums to determine the reception of art. The effect is a type of writing that gives great attention to the artwork itself rather than the politics of criticism. JJ Charlesworth writes about the historical shift in terminology from art critic to art writer and brazenly refers to the latter as “a dandified copywriter” (p 78). Of course, not all the writers here concur with Charlesworth, but it is the consequence of claims such as these that a variety of arrows are slung. On one level, Critical mess reads as mere in-fighting.
Elkin’s opening (and ludicrously uncritical) statement “Art criticism is in worldwide crisis” sets the tone (p 1). Saltz takes to task “academics and art theorists” for demonizing and belittling art (p 23); Relyea’s near-tortured engagement with the legacy of Greenberg and Krauss makes him appear woefully blinkered for the contemporary global contexts of art production; Charlesworth fails to support his trashing of “belletristic” forms of writing with substantial examples and his essay remains unpersuasive; Heartney ultimately says nothing, merely providing a partial overview of the so-called crisis; and Duncan and Plagens slip between anecdote, bitchy polemic and conservative responses to the problems of contemporary criticism. Duncan calls for a “re-evaluation of the art historical canon” (p 113) and Plagens refers to contemporary art as “a fecklessly ‘transgressive’ sub-division of the entertainment industry” (p 118). Oh, whatever.
One could be forgiven for wondering if art critics are the best people to write about what they do. However, the essential problem with Critical mess is its editorial framing and selection of essays (many were published previously). Indeed, and possibly in contradiction to what I sketched above, many of the essays have their merits; but in terms of editorial framing, none of the essays respond to the fact of an expanded field of and for art criticism or writing. For example, there is barely an acknowledgment of, let alone sustained engagement with, the implications of an ‘art world’ that is currently emerging from diverse traditions and concerns (call it globalism) and the demands on critics and writers necessarily entailed. Moreover, while curators and museums might be singled out for undermining the power of critics, this canon-making collection of writings implicitly dismisses the often wonderful writing on art, with real critical bite, produced by so-called nonspecialists and artists themselves. Think of Dennis Cooper, the underrated Lawrence Chua or Collier Schorr. One great suggestion of Critical mess is that the world needs more books on and about art criticism. In the meantime, if art criticism is in a mess, it appears to be a mess of ‘their’ making.
Brian Curtin is an art writer based in Bangkok and recently curated Here, there, now: contemporary art from India.
Raphael Rubenstein (ed), Critical mess: art critics on the state of their practice, Lenox, Massachusetts: Hard Press Editions, 2006; ISBN: 1889097675 (paperback)
