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現代主義失敗了嗎？
An art critic confronts the current art milieu, characterizing it as being without purpose or moral authority, and questions whether allegedly radical artists now reflect the culture of consumerism more than they challenge it.
- GenresArtArt History
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 7, 2008
A very deep yet completely communicative essay on a topic quite dear to me, the questioning of "modern art" or or at least of what is marketed and perceived as the 'official art' that we all look at in various museum and venues. The book asks how is that art is or is not relevant to people. Suzi Gablik's thinking and exploration and questioning is impressive and informed; it's been providing me a lot of the basis for a documentary film I'm working on about an artist. Her exploration is based on the question few of us dare or bother to ask, which is - art for art's sake vs art with relevance. This is a HUGELY important question since in many ways, "art" defines us as a species! Be it applied arts, industrial art, post-conceptual art. This book is also based on the premise that by asking questions such as these, perhaps some steps forward can be made in defining or re-defining thee place of art in our life. (I purchased this amazing book at a local bookstore, which I would urge you to do as well, btw!).It's not a many-pages book, but it's not a quick read, it asks questions we all should be asking about our culture and the hold art has had and can have in all of our lives.
February 20, 2024
Arguments aren’t at all perfect but she gets to the root of several questions that have been torturing me and my art practice.
In a late-capitalist society, how does one measure success outside of monetary gain? In a highly individualized and postmodern world, are there still universal truths that art can speak to? How does one grow to be a moral and well rounded person when productive specialization reaps the most benefits?
I don’t know and Suzi Gablik doesn’t really either, but they are good questions. And the short answer is to live your values without completely alienating yourself from the system, even if it involves some outward sacrifice. Easy!
In a late-capitalist society, how does one measure success outside of monetary gain? In a highly individualized and postmodern world, are there still universal truths that art can speak to? How does one grow to be a moral and well rounded person when productive specialization reaps the most benefits?
I don’t know and Suzi Gablik doesn’t really either, but they are good questions. And the short answer is to live your values without completely alienating yourself from the system, even if it involves some outward sacrifice. Easy!
July 18, 2022
Art for art’s sake or art for society’s sake. For goodness sakes! Has modernism run its course of secular alienation? Must art leave the rarified perch it has sat upon for a century and return to being an integrated part of life. I agree with the author that art has become impossible to define. It needs to plug itself back into our lives and not waste away in galleries and museums as investments in someone’s monetary wealth. But I don’t call myself an artist, I just love to draw without message or meaning. It’s a dead end. But I won’t be around forever and there are plenty of socially conscious others to carry the banner of art.
February 4, 2008
Suzi Gablik dared to ask a question many were thinking but were afraid to ask. She provides so illumination on the nature of the problem. If you read this and wonder what the solution is, read her answer in "the Reinchantment of art".
April 2, 2023
Despite being revised, the majority of this book is not or seemingly not updated. Most of it presents and argues the issues of Modernism as they were experienced in the 80s. This is fine if you are looking for the context of the argument against Modernism in that time, but outside of that it has outdated viewpoints and incorrect ideas about the past. Something of note is the concept that art as it was made for religion was outside of consumerism, which is simply not true.
Regardless, the last two chapters are clearly the last to be written and added. In my view they are the most relevant and somewhat contradictory to the preceding chapters. The information in them is closer to what I expected to be reading in the entire book. That is probably my fault for thinking that revised meant entirely edited and updated rather than mostly original with a couple new chapters.
Regardless, the last two chapters are clearly the last to be written and added. In my view they are the most relevant and somewhat contradictory to the preceding chapters. The information in them is closer to what I expected to be reading in the entire book. That is probably my fault for thinking that revised meant entirely edited and updated rather than mostly original with a couple new chapters.
Want to read
May 20, 2024"In a sense, then, for the committed modernist, the audience doesn’t really exist.
Barnett Newman always claimed that the real reason an artist paints is so that he will
have something to look at.
..
The most widespread attack on modernism and on the whole notion of art for art's sake has always come from Marxists, for whom the idea of art's function as something purely aesthetic and individual, and without external attachments, its spiritually sterile and corrupt.
"
Barnett Newman always claimed that the real reason an artist paints is so that he will
have something to look at.
..
The most widespread attack on modernism and on the whole notion of art for art's sake has always come from Marxists, for whom the idea of art's function as something purely aesthetic and individual, and without external attachments, its spiritually sterile and corrupt.
"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2016
An interesting read considering Suzi Gablik wrote this in the mid 80s, a time when NYC art scene was being driven by an art world focused on art fame and fast money. There is an urgency in Gablik's writing that seems to be a bit over-the-top in 2014. Certainly, there are still artist that are playing the game, but there has also been a shift after the economic bubble burst, more than once. What remains relevant is Gablik's question: art and its future.
What is unsettling in Gablik's analysis (for me) is her focus on the moral aspects of art. That Modernism has removed the 'soul' of art. While I am uncertain if I agree with this particular argument for a reason of 'failure', she does supply interesting commentary on what is lost when there is no longer rules or authority. Gablik explores why tradition, rules and authority within art is an asset, not a deterrent. This returns to her core argument - that the art being created lacks a social consciousness. She questions if there can be a radicalness to an art movement that cannot be labeled as a success or failure, since there is no norm.
While this book explores the historical, philosophical origins of the movement, there an interesting chapter thrown in at the end that almost seems a side-note on graffiti art. As a reader who finds graffiti a relevant art form but knows not of its history, this offered interesting insight. Her brief interviews with Basquiat and Futura were quite interesting considering what has transpired in that world.
What is unsettling in Gablik's analysis (for me) is her focus on the moral aspects of art. That Modernism has removed the 'soul' of art. While I am uncertain if I agree with this particular argument for a reason of 'failure', she does supply interesting commentary on what is lost when there is no longer rules or authority. Gablik explores why tradition, rules and authority within art is an asset, not a deterrent. This returns to her core argument - that the art being created lacks a social consciousness. She questions if there can be a radicalness to an art movement that cannot be labeled as a success or failure, since there is no norm.
While this book explores the historical, philosophical origins of the movement, there an interesting chapter thrown in at the end that almost seems a side-note on graffiti art. As a reader who finds graffiti a relevant art form but knows not of its history, this offered interesting insight. Her brief interviews with Basquiat and Futura were quite interesting considering what has transpired in that world.
December 13, 2016
An engaging survey of contemporary art and the "failure" of modernism. The text posits questions about post-modernism idealism and the vagueness of the "art is everything" nothingness of Pomo. The text mostly serves as a hard hitting critique of the cult of Greenbergian era male-guru modernist artists, who imbued themselves with faux spiritual status, and left everyone other than privileged white men out. A vital read for any living artist or critic.
February 12, 2008
How does an artist stay true to his vision and keep a roof over his head without selling his soul?
". . . everything depends on the quality of the individual. For we are what we are devoted to, and what we are devoted to motivates our conduct."
"However much we ignore, camouflage or degrade art's 'sacred elements,' they still reside in the unconscious."
Suzi Gablik has written a profound book of questions, warnings, history, and proverbs to help us make our way through the decline of western civilization. This book is for all of those who believe in the mystery and power of the universe, and the collective soul.
". . . everything depends on the quality of the individual. For we are what we are devoted to, and what we are devoted to motivates our conduct."
"However much we ignore, camouflage or degrade art's 'sacred elements,' they still reside in the unconscious."
Suzi Gablik has written a profound book of questions, warnings, history, and proverbs to help us make our way through the decline of western civilization. This book is for all of those who believe in the mystery and power of the universe, and the collective soul.
November 23, 2010
Great read...i think it came off the rails a couple of times where she tried to stereotype science with sterility and a souless technocratic society...and attempted to tie secularism to the same. She seemed to be of the opinion that bureaucracies are limited to secular societies and are a condition of modern (secular) Western civilization...this is hardly the case as what bigger bureaucracy is there than, say, the Vatican and the Catholic power structure? Anytme an organization gets sufficiently large beureaucracies are inevitable.
Other than those passages I think SG made a very coherent and powerful indictment of the diminishing coherence and point of post modernism and modernist art.
Other than those passages I think SG made a very coherent and powerful indictment of the diminishing coherence and point of post modernism and modernist art.
January 1, 2012
Gablik argues against meaningless art and for ways some artists are doing significant things in the community. Some of her arguments are compelling. However, her examples seem simplistic. It is hard to codify the impact an artist may have on those who come into contact with his/her art.
June 1, 2021
The past is not rejected, but the idea that there must be one set of values and one greater culture is rejected. There is not just one way to make art, one way of doing things, one truth.
July 26, 2008
Rambly
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews