78 replies to this topic

[docweathers]

 The curator for a major juried exhibit in our area was interviewed by our local paper.Here are a couple of quotes from the interview:

 

First, please translate these

 

 

1. " A striking example of an artist allowing her process to embrace the mismatched flaws of a digital program seeking perfection. "

 

 

2. " Yet, I feel the subject is something else entirely, maybe a reminder of the complexities of vision we take for granted as our mind seamlessly stitches the visual world back together."

 

Second, can anyone direct me to a treatise, tutorial or the like that would help one become competent in this dialect?

 

Though this stuff sounds like an artsy spin on psychobabble, I suspect that it is very important to describe your works to curators in this dialect if you want them to favor your work.

 

Seriously... any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Evelyne Schoenmann]

Seriously Gismo: do we need unintelligible sentences like these in the (art) world? When I read art critique like this, I get tooth ache.....

 

Evelyne

[bciskepottery]

http://www.pixmaven...._generator.html

[Matt Oz]

[Evelyne Schoenmann]

33333 = It should be added that the optical suggestions of the spatial relationships endangers the devious simplicity of the remarkable handling of ljght.

 

Hilarious

[flowerdry]

I got this:

 

I find this work menacing/playful because of the way the optical suggestions of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix notates the substructure of critical thinking. 

 

I may actually have a piece of pottery that fits this description!

 

PS.  You have to click on http://www.pixmaven...._generator.html for this to make sense.

[Denice]

Wish I spoke art babble,  skipped that class in college thought it sounded boring it's actually quite amusing.  Denice

[Evelyne Schoenmann]

The carp (oooops, wrong spelling) critiques formed by the generator are actually addicting.....

[docweathers]

As much nonsense as this stuff is, I seriously believe that at some level it is a dialect that when addressed to curators, it will make them like your work better.  ... and thus include your work in their exhibits.     As Evelyne points out, these phrases are addicting and curators are serious addicts. You may do well to feed these gatekeeper's habit... if you want to become a famous artist. I would really like to find a systematic way to test this hypothesis

[GiselleNo5]

So, write an actual description if your work, then deconstruct it word by word with a Thesaurus in hand. Choose the word that is most high-falutin' (the opposite of what I just did there). It doesn't even have to make sense, really .... most artists'statements with this kind of language don't really make sense either.

[karenk]

......" embrace the mismatched flaws of a digital program..."

 

This quote conjures up  images of a sledged hammer mangled computer.

[PRankin]

I just spent the last 20 minutes punching in 5 digit numbers and reading all the responses and I think I'm beginning to understand it. I'll be ready for my next juried exhibit.

Paul

[docweathers]

I think it is sledged hammered language.

This thing has caught my interest. Attached is a pdf of the seminal
research on International Art English, IAE.  I think it is something that
artists, not just art critics, need to speak... If you want to talk to win
the favor of  the gatekeepers of the art world.

Attached Files

•  International Art English - Triple Canopy.pdf   252.03KB   38 downloads

[Cavy Fire Studios]

I had a freaking awesome art instructor named Tom Askman who has the word for this speech:
Bloviation. Bloviating. Bloviate.
It's essentially using big, smart-people words to describe the vast impact of the cornucopia of nothing. That's Art with a capital "A" for you!!
Example:
Normal word: "Rabbit."
Bloviated rabbit:
*clears throat and puts on a beret with matching infinity scarf and sipping Starbucks*
"The creature we perceive as that of lagomorphic physicality in actuality goes beyond of mere human psychoanalytic ken; rather its presence stands as a keenly metaphoric balance between that which is to be preyed upon to sacrifice for the needs of the many, or the epic and eternal struggle for survival and procreation."
...
...LMFAO

[Bob Coyle]

Sad to say, we have a local art magazine here in Santa Fe that publishes critiques that are even less coherent than those created by the five digit generator.

[Cavy Fire Studios]

WAO.
What the heck are they speaking, Sanskrit??

[Chilly]

When I was an IT trainer/courseware writer I had a sticker on my monitor:  "Why use a big word when a diminutive expression will do?"  Perhaps it should have said "Why use one ordinary word when 35 mismatched words will do?"

 

Now I know why I'm not an artist.

[Matt Oz]

I must concretize this and give you an answer on an indeterminate date.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Oh Ze Frank, how I love you!!! Thank you Matt, that made my day!

My first thought was also to post the crit generator, but many others were faster.

1. " A striking example of an artist allowing her process to embrace the mismatched flaws of a digital program seeking perfection. "

read, "The artist does not appear to be capable of looking past their method of working. The artist appears to be using a formula of some kind to get to an end result that a formula can't achieve."
(Also read, "I think this artist is barking up the wrong tree, and it's kind of funny to watch. In a non-hierarchical sense, of course.")


2. " Yet, I feel the subject is something else entirely, maybe a reminder of the complexities of vision we take for granted as our mind seamlessly stitches the visual world back together."

Read, "This reminds me of something. Gimme a minute....nope. Lost it."
(Also read, "That blotch reminds me I need to pick up milk and the drycleaning.")

Not all "critical writing" is critical in a useful way.
I too lack an MFA for a reason.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Aaaand this is what the generator gave me for my (modified) birthday digits of 14176

"With regard to the issue of content, the reductive quality of the sexual signifier notates the essentially transitional quality."