2002.11.17 13:41
Re: Yale School of Art
I'm glad I never went to any art school—I went to undergrad architecture school—because I'm now very appreciative of self-education, in that it is doable with better than satisfactory results. For example, it's recently become clear that I can more than hold my own when it comes to understanding Duchamp, as evidenced at the www Duchamp bulletin board.
After many years of self-education one begins to realize that one is learning not only what is being taught, but also a lot of what is not being taught. The more I understand the value of self-education, however, the less value I see in academia, because academia very often chooses to ignore that which is not from academia. Imagine, for example, that some artist or art historian student or teacher at Yale recently discovered a heretofore unknown printing by Piranesi. Chances are this discovery would have been deemed worthy of fairly wide press coverage, and considered a significant contribution to the history of art. Of course, this never happened recently in academia, but some self-taught architect/artist did discovery a heretofore unknown printing of Piranesi's Ichnographia Campus Martius, published the finding online, and received confirmation via email from Piranesi scholar John Wilton-Ely (editor of the "complete" etchings of Piranesi) that indeed our knowledge of Piranesi's etching is not necessarily complete. Because this news did not come from academia, academia pays no attention to it, yet at the same time there is no question that academia's knowledge of Piranesi is now definitely lacking.
I think any artist would agree that it would for sure be thrilling to personally discover something like a lost/unknown Michelangelo. In all honesty, I can now very much claim a visceral understanding of what that thrill might just really be like, and I also feel that I probably would have never learned this sensation if I went to art school.
2002.11.18 10:10
Re: Yale School of Art
My prior commentary was admittedly extreme, but I wanted to make the point that academia sets an artificial range of parameters, and (one could say) that one theme that runs through some of my work is the ongoing investigation of accepted parameters, especially those most taken for granted, or those most seen as somehow being above reproach. A project that ultimately redefines parameters is, of course, very satisfactory, but not necessarily a fulfillment of an overriding goal from the start.
All higher education is now a high priced consumer item, and I feel it should be recognized as such from the get go. Thus, for me at least, I find it to be a lot more artful/artistic when I can attain something extremely valuable, yet at the same time spend relatively no money getting it.
Suffice it to say that I was/am attempting to clearly describe, and indeed often manifest, a fundamentally alternative mode of operation via my 'work'. This does not automatically mean that I am then also trying to be better (than 'everyone else'), but if I do come across what appears to be a(n unwittingly accepted) mistake, I will see if I can "fix it."
2002.11.22 12:23
playing the pre-shrine curator
The Underground Metropolitan Collection
Comprising (at least) three salvaged architectural artifacts from Whitemarch Hall where the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection was kept in safe keeping during WWII--one piece, the larger marble slab, supports the painting Anonymous Saint In Bikini While Jesus Is Walking On Water.
Telephone Not Included 01
A kind of very practical coffee table modern sculpture thing.
Damien Hirst I Ain't
No butts in this ashtray, etc.
Critics Abuzz 01
Critics Abuzz 02
Critics Abuzz 03
Critics Abuzz 04
A group of small, inexpensively framed Ab/Ex paintings
Infringement Complex
Collection of over 100 small ur-hybrid thinking collages fulfilling their title.
Heilige Helena
Playing The Pre-Shrine Curator, the inaugural exhibit at Obscuranti of Olney, an individual as Gesamtkunstwerk production presently in progress. Viewer interactivity encouraged via reenactment of Gertrude Stein, hence "buy it while it's cheap."
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2002.11.23
Monument Hystérique
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