CATHY FOX ON BRIAN DETTMER

an angry morning(maybe annoyed is a better word): was i wrong to say it?-i dont think so. was there a point? i dont think so. after a late evening of making stuff and reading about ubu roi and may 68 riots,and only sleeping 4 hours- i woke up- "inspired"?
i wrote this and posted it to a listserve for atlanta arts people to read.oh well.


http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/07/03/goreview0703.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

"As information goes virtual, and books appear to be the next species of Internet roadkill, his sculpture gives hard copy a new life and affirms the ageless allure of the object."- this last line from her piece is good. it almost seemed to want to go somewhere with it.

The atlartscritic blog seems to be designed to herd folks towards the ajc website - more than anything else.(which i guess is ...fine?)
There's a quick post on the blog about Dettmer that makes playful sexual allusions (I guess because sex is just so damn sexy and it sells) about the work- before planting the link to the ajc website-which isnt as specifically linking to what you are looking for as i have provided,of course. (don't think it isn't a technique...which i guess is also...fine?)

Generally speaking,the blog is similiar to the necessary appropriation of culture jamming techniques by large corporations. It illustrates with a mocking muscular thumb on our heads- what trained automatons can do when inserting techniques or methods of communication once considered low-brow into their stale routine . the result is palatable,with a numb neutrality that evades truly finding a surface to,technically speaking,apply criticism to...it appears benign and feels compacted into safe simple communications for somebody's idea of "for the people".
in reality,it is a continuation of empty gestures. but it's nice



check out this punk rock typo-atllanta-i give it my stamp of approval. cldnt have happened on a better link,if u ask me.
http://artsatl.typepad.com/artscriticatl/page/5/

this blog: the audience still seems to be some idea of, well...dammit. stuffy crackers. for some idea of "audience". sure you have lots of necessary varied "informative coverage"...i'm sure glad to know that radcliffe bailey is getting his own at our LOCAL bigbox gallery "The High Museum of Art" and im glad fay gold had her retro-moment at a mic...(and yeah,im so sure basquiat wldnt interview with you cuz of his drugged out zone,uh huh)- there's lots on there. and. it's nice.
but thats just it.
it's "nice".

The origin of these observations is in a realization: The audience is mostly artists-or at the very least..lets us say artistic types.okay??? those that find it were looking for it is what i am saying! its about creating a sense of self. So write to that fulfillment,indicate that level of understanding. Give more personalized perspective,maybe even relevant to now perspectives on the work. Especially on the fucking blog,since its obviously of little real importance ..beyond being a quick nod to an idea of a hip conduit...put some personality on the inside of it,some graffiti, if you will. (just dont commission one of our local graffiti franchise turn-key kids to do it--talk about "throw up")

one of the supposed purposes of this blog was to provoke dialogue and discussion,right?

where?

is it just me..or did it not have its comments section enabled at one point?

Even the Dettmer article is more consumed with surface level process "ooooh! how'd he doooo that? how loooooong did that take? asinine crap! moving on and into the work,please?

and by the way..im in the process of working on my own fleshed piece for publication- pending receival of some information that is not concerned with timing of getting "asses in seats" -to borrow an expression from theatre-it's concerned with the work itself...i just wish these professionals wld do it so i didnt feel like i had to try and do their job for them..locally speaking,that is...(dont get me wrong..i enjoy it,i love writing art about art...)

(and i havent forgotten you mister contradictions/grotesquery- doubt i ever will)






"Laughter is born out of the discovery of the contradictory." - Alfred Jarry