Theories of Contemporary Art

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking...
Review: Theories of Contemporary Art is the first text that I have read that takes a valliant stab at finding some equilibrium in the search for a definitive keyframe in time where modernism fractured away from mainstream art by virtue of the fact that peoples modern sensibilities could no longer withstand the purity...or rather purtanical grid work of high art.

Each essay provides unique insight into the why's and how's such a schism occurred. I remember being tasked to read this text in my sophomore year in college and feeling my eyes glaze over with the just the forward. Now in my mid 30's and a professional artist, I find this text to be insightful, highly intelligent, and a grand edition to my art book collection. Mine is a first edition that I will treasure for years to come.

What gives this text such a resounding score with me, is that is takes me on a journey through the tumult of the late 1960's and the declaration of "art is dead!" heralded by the modernists. It made me question what is now happening (if anything-perhaps we are now drowning in post-modernism with all of it's novelties, decoration, and illustration). It also made me wonder how texts like "Grid Systems in Graphic Design" came to be in the '80's.>>Joseph Muller-Brockmann. A strong beam of pure design in a chaotic post-modern soup. High art is not dead...nor is it reserved for the 'fine' arts...but is alive and well in the commercial arts.

I became well aware of the dangers of going too far in either direction::> making art that is so 'pure' it loses it's own sensibility and dies in obscurity....or so dramatic, novelty/shock oriented that it forces the viewing public into a unstable sense of what art is...the uncertainty of the art object or painting.

If you like to get deep into the weeds of art criticism...then this book is a must read.

I would not recommend this text for light reading. I have scores of notes in the margins of my text already. This is a text for the experienced artist or designer that has a strong sense of art history.