here's some text art mocad forgot...
Work N° 275 'Small Things' Martin Creed (I did really like his piece feelings in the show...mocad pics to come)
Gold No Room (no. 1) 
Big Funk
People Like You Need to Fuck People Like Me
Tracy Emin at White Cube, London neon sign.
posted by art blogs are fun at 1:18 PM
13 Comments:
i love these!
these few here are a much better gathering than those at mocad. and i love pierson and creed.
'feelings' didn't have feeling. small things does.
just cause everyone puts something into neon doesn't make it noteworthy.
the show did finally use the space to better advantage. but anyone could've curated a better text show. hey, ann just did.
Why doesnt MOCAD just make some of those cool text art things and just "Say" that well known artists did them.
you'll see several great text paintings when you visit Meadow Brook for my show that opens in November.
MOCAD did not "forget" these pieces. The show was curated by White Columns director Mathew Higgs. The show does not claim to be a comprehensive study of text based art. Detroit small fries need to stop being haters and appreciate the fact that MOCAd is a vessel that is doing nothing more than trying to bring interesting international art to Detroit. Of course there is other "text based art" out there. Stop being so provincial ... stop being such closed minded haters!
to the last anonymous,
"forgot" was being used in a way different than you understood. of course they weren't mounting a comprehensive text-based art show. ann's just saying they also weren't mounting a good one, and that including these works would have been better than most of the shit their lame "big name" curator did include.
stop accepting what institutions tell you is good art. and stop blindly boostering things you obviously can't bother to think objectively or critically about.
I'm tired of Anonymous's lame argument that attempts to keep the entire community down and out of any real art scene. "You are provincial."
The point made was that we aren't provincial, but are tired of being treated as such by not just outsiders, but our own MOCAD and by other yahoos like Anonyomous.
Why this endless effort to perpetuate the dim-witted notion that the Detroit audience isn't art-smart enough to critique the art brought in! Give me a break!
MOCAD is keeping us as their provincial pets with this ploy that they must present us with inferior or minor tokens from the outside world to broaden our wee horizons.
MOCAD is closed-minded if they don't understand that art globalization has long-ago reached Detroit's shores and yes we are smartly aware of the art beyond our borders.
How else could Ann curate a quickie-but-oh-so-much-better exhibition on this site?!
The audience MOCAD should be securing, nurturing and building upon is Detroit's art community. Detroit has the most savvy artists and collectors anywhere. LACMA's new director said upon taking her job: This museum is here first and foremost for the city's art community. We are here to support your interests.
The point made wasn't that there isn't other text-based work out in the world: just that this was far from the best.
Curator Higgs talked up a storm about all the bands he saw when he was in Detroit. Guessed he saw something like 50. Name-dropped all the clubs and bars. He especially liked Chill & Mingle in Hamtramck. Liked the Frustrations and the Mahoneys. A bunch more bands. Liked all that musical energy here. Fed off it. Found it thrilling.
But when asked if he'd seen a single Detroit artist's work or visited a single studio - he dropped his head sheepishly, muttered no and was done talking.
This is about anger at an institution that continues to ignore the fact that its art community is mature and rich. And intelligent. And should be recognized, if nothing else.
And what's the deal with Jeremy Deller connecting Bush with Waco?!
I guess our community is growing to the point where different people, artists, art viewers, can get their kicks from different things. Some people are stimulated by the local art here, others are not. Some people are stimulated by the work mocad brings in, others are not. This is so cool: all kinds of difference. If you go to a music store not everyone buys the same cd's. Same with clothes and books. So good, Jef, you are so excited abt Detroit art and good, anonymous, you are so thrilled with mocad.
Jef et al,
Whether or not the pieces in this show are inferior or superior to those Ann chose to post is a fantastic discussion is the abstract but is woefully lacking in practical consideration. Jef should know as well as anyone that sometimes pieces are sold and in private collections, not available for shipping, over seas, etc. There are any number of practical constraints on a curator when trying to bring work hundreds, if not thousands of miles to a fledgling museum. Sometimes an artist/gallery doesn't want to show the same piece twice in a year or would rather send a cheaper piece to save on insurance. Whatever the reason, why spend your efforts second guessing Matthew Higgs. He's one curator among many who I'm sure will make his way through MoCAD over the coming years.
And regarding Jim's "stop accepting what institutions tell you blah blah blah..." this comes out of exactly the "provincial" (I think I smell a trend) thinking that Jef is railing against. MoCAD is certainly not the art establishment though they may appear to be it's representatives in Detroit. If you're really interested in changing what the "institution" considers good, a good place to start is in the studio.
MOCAD's argument for existence has always been to bring the best of the world to poor Detroit, to awe and inspire.
Claiming their mandate from every corner and every discussion within their own walls, anything that falls so short is destined to be a disappointment.
These are obviously works from an edition, that are multiples, inexpensive to travel and show.
That still isn't an excuse to shortchange their own mandate.
I am not about to make excuses or be generous to an institution that so openly ignores its own constituents and agenda.
detroit isn't the wasteland. it's these scabby bastards.
Every time I drive past MOCAD and see that hoodie-wearin' dude hanging off the front of the building I am reminded of walking up Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Canada. Draw your own conclusion, and say CHEESE!
My favorite Glenn Ligon text piece can be seen here: http://www.wexarts.org/db/press/469_Glenn_Ligon_press_release.pdf
I kindof wish MOCAD or some other institution was more like the Wexler center, they had a workshop for art educator people come to talk about gender and sexuality issues in the art classroom as well as in public schools with actual artists in their art museum. There's something that Columbus, OH has got right, that I Detroit could be... or even surpass. If we could fully connect museums with education, we'd be matching the level of sophisticated contemporary art to a sophisticated art audience.
Post a Comment
<< Home