I am a man of colour and I do not make art about my identity and consequently, I receive no special treatment in this period that is supposed to make it easier for « minorities » to break in. The artworld wants victim narratives, trauma porn, noble savages. Biennales and museums have become quite ethnographic in the marginalized art that they promote. An artworld that only cares about equity through performative gestures and promotion of « exotic » portrayals of identity is to put it simply, quite racist. Nothing has changed. People like you and other liberally minded artists and writers only support this ethnographic turn in art because either a, it makes you feel like a good person for standing up for the poor people of colour who are helpless and need saving or b, you are benefitting directly from this system and it’s in your interests for it to continue to support this type of art. Jeffrey Gibson representing the US in Venice does absolutely nothing for indigenous people living in poverty, homeless, overdosing on the streets of major cities in the US.
I disagree. All art is about identity even if you purposely extract it and solely are focus on form. Which is in direct lineage to colonialism. If the gimmick of “bad black art” is your issue just say that. Two things can be right at the same time. Jeffrey Gibson has been a decorated artist for decades and is not solely an indigenous artist they are heavily apart of the queer community. To extract identity to appease Eurocentric ideals of high art is the issue.
This seems reductive. Not all are aware of the ingenious bastardization of their work and there are clear art political movements that are not influenced by the hyper viability and vulture culture of the gallery system,
The person who writes this Substack lost money on her gallery then sold off her artists' work below market value to cover the bills. That is a serious problem within the realm of LABOR politics. Of course she's focused on identity politics instead. Thank god people like Kissick exist.
I am a man of colour and I do not make art about my identity and consequently, I receive no special treatment in this period that is supposed to make it easier for « minorities » to break in. The artworld wants victim narratives, trauma porn, noble savages. Biennales and museums have become quite ethnographic in the marginalized art that they promote. An artworld that only cares about equity through performative gestures and promotion of « exotic » portrayals of identity is to put it simply, quite racist. Nothing has changed. People like you and other liberally minded artists and writers only support this ethnographic turn in art because either a, it makes you feel like a good person for standing up for the poor people of colour who are helpless and need saving or b, you are benefitting directly from this system and it’s in your interests for it to continue to support this type of art. Jeffrey Gibson representing the US in Venice does absolutely nothing for indigenous people living in poverty, homeless, overdosing on the streets of major cities in the US.
I disagree. All art is about identity even if you purposely extract it and solely are focus on form. Which is in direct lineage to colonialism. If the gimmick of “bad black art” is your issue just say that. Two things can be right at the same time. Jeffrey Gibson has been a decorated artist for decades and is not solely an indigenous artist they are heavily apart of the queer community. To extract identity to appease Eurocentric ideals of high art is the issue.
This seems reductive. Not all are aware of the ingenious bastardization of their work and there are clear art political movements that are not influenced by the hyper viability and vulture culture of the gallery system,
what is an art political movement hahahahahaha
The person who writes this Substack lost money on her gallery then sold off her artists' work below market value to cover the bills. That is a serious problem within the realm of LABOR politics. Of course she's focused on identity politics instead. Thank god people like Kissick exist.
Thanks for this. The article in Harper’s was atrocious, and you’ve so aptly captured the (loud) undercurrent of racism throughout it.