Art's Prospect : A Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing, honest
Review: Funny and irreverent, Kimball captures prosaically what so many of us artists and art lovers often feel. The nexus between art critics, gallery owners, and celebrity has always been insidious. Kimball shows no mercy when jabbing at politically correct shibboleths in the established art economy.

Contrary to what another reviewer (I must wonder whether he actually read the book) has posted here twice, Kimball does indeed offer us guidance in how to "approach art" with one very important message: The art itself and by itself is always more important than the critic. What he does not do is genuflect before the altar of over-intellectualization and deconstruction that enthralls so many art poseurs.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Counterpoint
Review: In an artworld where cynicism and duplicity are the norm, Kimball offers an important commentary of the lack of values that inform much of the art and art criticism today. For most critics, art need only be "challenging" to be good. Kimball clearly states the importance of craft, skill and intellectual rigour as disciplines which artists need to cultivate. Kimball's stylish prose and precise vocabulary make this a highly enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: yawn yawn
Review: In the spirit of "these kids today..." and "back in the good ole days," Kimball comes off as an crabby intellectual lightweight who offers no new or interesting insight into art. He offers such brilliant insight as, artist Mona Hatoum only got a job because of affirmative action and sociology is an intellectual slum. He offers the sort of criticism that presents itself as common sense and realist, but history inevitably shows to be laughably naive and off the mark. It may be hard to navigate the anything goes world of art today, but Kimball offers nothing to help us understand how to approach art or how to understand why art has gone in the direction it has. There is no real investigation into the connections between art and other disciplines or social factors which are vital to art today. This book is rife with nostalgic, neo-conservative notions and a tone that is purist and revisionistic; sure to remind you of your favorite totalitarian government's dogma on form and beauty. Overall, Kimball shows us why critics so often get a reputation as professional complainers who have nothing positive to add to the world.

Rating:
Summary: Solid insights
Review: Kimball is a breath of fresh air in the world of art criticism. Also, the New Criterion, the magazine his writes for, is terrific.