A blog about about painting, design and other aspects of aesthetics along with a dash of non-art topics. The point-of-view is that modernism in art is an idea that has, after a century or more, been thoroughly tested and found wanting. Not to say that it should be abolished -- just put in its proper, diminished place.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Turner Prize Finalists 2012
For the United Kingdom's avant-garde art world, the Annual Big Deal is the Turner Prize, named after the 19th century painter J.M.W. Turner, who many art historians regard as a precursor of modernist art because of the semi-abstract quality of large areas of many of his later paintings.
The Turner Prize is only one of several important scheduled events that reveal the present Modernist Art Establishment take on what art ought to be. But for what it's worth, here is a link to the 2012 prize finalists with the winner identified.
I find it interesting that only one of the four finalist works involved graphic art. The other three involve Installation, film and video (as best I can tell from the citations). None of the finals painted in oil.
This serves to help confirm the speculation in the final chapter of my book, Art Adrift, that self-styled avant-gardists had to abandon painting for other media because there was little room for major innovation in painting after 1920 or thereabouts.
It's difficult to take the Turner prize seriously ever since they selected Tracy Emin, who turned out to be a true lightweight. The link you have provided to this year's award confirms one's worst suspicions: the video on the winner, E. Price, focuses on the glamorous reception, the celebrity presenter, the hors d'oeuvres and the cocktails, but tells you nothing about her art.
ReplyDeleteDavid -- Sometimes I think postmodern art is really a branch of Public Relations.
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