| Critical
Mess, Art Critics on the State of their Practice
By Raphael
Rubinstein
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| ISBN
1-889097-67-5
Due
in 2006
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In recent years, there has been increasing debate about the role of art criticism in contemporary art. Suddenly, critics everywhere seem to feel their profession needs thorough re-examination. In a pluralist, global, market-driven art world, how should a critic approach the evaluation of visual art? As some critics have chosen to adopt a more journalistic stance, others have called for a more honest, opinionated critical practice. One of the first articles to open up debate about criticism was Raphael Rubinstein's 2003 Art in America polemic, "A Quiet Crisis". Now, Rubinstein has assembled an anthology of writings by international critics on the state of art criticism. Among the contents are English critic J.J. Charlesworth's "The Dysfunction of Criticism", American art historian and critic Lane Relyea's "All Over and At Once" and Rubinstein's own "A Quiet Crisis". Other key texts are included by prominent art critics such as Arthur C. Danto, James Elkins, Eleanor Heartney, Jerry Saltz, Peter Plagens, Nancy Princenthal and Katy Siegel. This volume will give readers a full picture of the current debate about the nature of art criticism, a debate that has become as heated and questioning as the discourse on contemporary art in general.
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