The Art World Explained
From the Nation, fascinating musings from Sarah Thornton, author of the acclaimed Seven Days in the Art World on her favorite topic:
Thornton’s reference to the art world as a subculture ought to be surprising. A visit to one of the great museums of modern and contemporary art that exist in every important city might easily convince the observer that art is just plain culture, not a subculture–that is, something central and dominant in society. After all, so much money and civic pride have been invested in it. But the people who make up the art world often wonder if their culture is really central at all. Undoubtedly they believe that it ought to be, but they are deeply aware that there is something eccentric about their relation to the culture at large, something fragile. Like the club culture that Thornton previously studied, the art world is a specialized milieu based on taste; both depend on the value of authenticity and a disdain for the aesthetics of mainstream mass culture. (A collector who loves Roy Lichtenstein will not therefore become an aficionado of comic books.) The publisher of Artforum reluctantly admits that his magazine “is establishment in a funny sense”; likewise, contemporary art is a culture but in a funny sense. The art world doesn’t know whether it is a subculture pretending to be a culture or a culture pretending to be a subculture.
ABOVE: Valerie Hegarty, Niagara Falls 2007Foamcore, paper, paint, wood, glue, gel medium150 x 300 x 65 cm. [Via Moonriver]
