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V.Codec Online Forum Apr.25.2006: Panelist Corey Smith
Forum Moderator:
(Question for Corey Smith) Is an account of a critic's personal experience with a work of art a valuable form of contemporary visual art criticism?
Corey Smith:
Before you can critique art, you have to have a frame of refference to back it up.
Corey Smith:
So if they have a personal engagement with the work then they will probably review it more passionately. If they don't get it then what can they say about it?
Corey Smith:
A critic should be experienced enough in life to stand on common ground with most work? Does that make sense?
Gretchen Bennett:
Personal reactions are good, especially when posed in a way that resonates with many.
Gretchen Bennett:
Oops...
Forum Moderator:
No worries Gretchen, BEGIN FREEFORM, all...
Gretchen Bennett:
And as I get to know someone, say Corey, I can form my own opinions based on what I know about him and what he's written.
Corey Smith:
Like if you're a book work you'll only understand book worm art.
Eva Lake:
Engagement with any work is key. So why deny this to critics? Maybe not every single time out, but still.
Regina Hackett:
Corey, a frame of reference is what everyone has from being alive. Being able to apply that inherent structure to looking at art takes experience, and the art affects the structure.
Corey Smith:
Why would engagement invalidate a critic's words?
Regina Hackett:
Is criticism personal? Everything is personal. Engagement is critical to critics.
Corey Smith:
Everything is personal, and nothing more than an artist's work.
Eva Lake:
Of course the more they see, the more they write about, the personal engagement becomes more rare. But that is not a bad thing...
Corey Smith:
I see, they would become desensitised to new work because they've seen it all.
Regina Hackett:
No. But the more critics see the more they leave behind. A lot of art is just art to me, objects taking up space in the world. I try to say nothing about it.
Eva Lake:
It is not that they are desensitized.
Eva Lake:
The more I see art, I have loved it no less. But the bar changes.
Regina Hackett:
I wasn't responding to Corey's last coment. New work is not what you leave behind, it's work that repeats everything you've already seen.
Forum Moderator:
(Fifteen seconds...)
Forum Moderator:
(And....DONE...with this question.)
Forum Moderator:
Thanks corey!!
Forum Moderator:
And all...onward to the next panelist...!!
