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Notes -
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/11/guggenheim-racism-controversy-curator-nancy-spector/671529/
Well we finally have a story about the self-destruction of the Guggenheim in the summer of 2020. Unfortunately the author seems to be lamenting that the activists didn’t try to get enough people fired by framing it as a story of people choosing a scapegoat instead of fully recognizing their privilege.
This piece appearing as a headline story in The Atlantic actually makes me pessimistic that we’re ever going to get a real examination of the hysteria during Summer 2020. The analysis is so hamstrung by the fact that any mainstream author will agree with the premises of the activists.
Also it’s worth noting that any principled opposition to Lebouvier from within the Guggenheim would have left the art world decades ago. Institutional capture was baked into the cake back then, lamenting it now just seems naïve.
If there's one thing you should take away from this story, it's that this is the painting that inspired the whole debacle. I think it reveals more about the people involved than all ~8k words of that article:
/images/16648375033063056.webp
It is a Basquiat, and although this particular piece does not do much for me, in general I find that Basquiat's works tend to have real emotional power, though why, I don't know (color? composition? I don’t know enough about art to say. And, no, anyone can't do it; I attended a showing of an art teacher colleague who worked in a similar style and felt nothing. Similarly, lots of people can execute the lines and shapes of Guernica, but the result will not necessarily be the same. I can cut out pictures and paste them on a canvas, but I can't create anything like this stuff
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It's not an asthetic that appeals to me at all. But while it really doesn't resonate with me stylistically or compositionally, I do like that there is a very pronounced style - a Basquiat looks like a Basquiat to me, in the same way a Picasso just looks like a Picasso. And I like that there is a strong point of view and that comes across in a very direct way.
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