Nancy’s Reviews > EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art > Status Update

Read essay (28,29.30/37) Excellent short discussion of black aesthetic (BA) consummate aesthetic (CA) and aesthetic incarnate (AI)! Ms Jones scatters the word "aesthetic" around like confetti. BA: emphasis on personal and cultural narrative in black art instead of spectacle. It centers on heritage and resilience. CA: extremely skilled in creating harmony in form, technique. Example sculptor Martin Pruyear (1951)

Essay 26/37 Black female photographers are re-locating in the world..."making ourselves visible. The women mentioned were discussed in previous chapters 5 and 14. Strong point: women add an embedded text to the image to expand its meaning to signify ideas outside this frame work. Example: photo by Tabrizian "Her Way" reveals black woman dead on bathroom floor "See my blood is the same colour as yours." Powerful.

Read essay "Poets of a New Style of Speak" (25/37) Life in Cuba is not easy and many artists reflect that. But I find their frankness, vulgarity, crudeness not appealing ( T. Esson, L. Saaverda) The only artist I like in today's essay was Ciro Quintana (1964) (see Google). Style is comic strips, pop icons, theatrical pastiches with VIBRANT colours...just a delight to look at. His paintings are puzzles too!

Read essay (24/37) 'Critical Curators". Interesting Q&A with author/curator Kellie Jones. What's new in art in 1992? (date of Q&A) More 3-d installations: artist creates a piece instead of borrowing objects for a show. Photography: is on the rise! It is a process people identify with, pieces are cheaper to ship to other museums! KJ always practical! What is your hope? Museums will hire/train more people of color.

Read essay 23/37 "Domestic Prayer" Puerto Rican artist Pepón Osorio (1955) celebrates PRican cultural traditions of creating mini altars in the home and elevates the use of kitsch/ baubles, figurines, plastic flowers, photos...into an universal reflection: Themes: Machismo, racism in iconic works (1987) La Cama (bed) and El Chandelier (1988). Short essay but full of great insights on Osario's conceptual art.

Read (22/37) essays "In the Thick of It" Email: David Hammons has found a way to articulate blackness w/o relying on painting or sculptured figure: African hair. This was an essay that could have been an email! Worst essay so far....bah.

Read (21/37) "Lost in Translation" J.M. Basquiat (1960-1988). Essay = word salad...learned very little. Researched B. (neo-expressionst (NEX) myself! Art moved minimalist --> conceptual --> NEX. Themes: racism, colonialism, class divide. Basquait created 160 works with Wahrol. Have a look at "Ten Punching Bags" (Google). Also on You Tube there is a 53 min doc "Basquiat: Rags to Riches." Better than this essay!

Read essay (18/37) Interview with African-American conceptual artist David Hammons (1943). He has to be one of my favourites I discovered in this collection of contemporary art essays. I like his work, his vision, his aesthetic (visuals of form and beauty) and he is so honest. "The only thing that's really going on is in the street (good art). It isn't happening in these galleries."

Forgot to change page count!

Read essay (17/37). Topic was about photographers who specialise in larger than life photos. Ms Jones was curator for "Larger than Life (1987) and these were her notes. Unfortunately many artists were not to be found on Google (images) so I had to read about only 2: Andres Serrano and Albert Chong. Shortest essay so far...