26 September 2008

oh, old man

I’m embarrassed for Peter Plagens. Here’s a rather well-respected critic (for both Newsweek and Artforum, among others) with his own art career to boot, and a pretty solid reputation. Ok, so he’s a bit of a Populist (yeah, Newsweek) – still an insult in some Art circles – but the guy is smart, and has written clearly-worded and insightful gems about the Art World for years. His book Moonlight Blues: An Artist’s Art Criticism (from 1986, I think) has an incredibly prescient article on Photography that permanently changed my thinking about the medium.

So why the hell did he decide to write a novel? This thinly-veiled roman à clef, being published serially on Artnet right now, seems to be some last-ditch effort to get off his chest just what he really thinks about artists and dealers and critics and sex and marriage and so on. And, of course, just what’s wrong with the world these days… Unfortunately, it’s just terrible. What’s that line about seeing how the sausage is made? The fictional surface is so thin, the main character, an “Art Critic for a Major News Magazine”, might as well be named Meter Magens. What’s worse, however, is that Plagens’, um, sausage is heavily spiced with a carmudgeonly blend of sexism, racism, and kids-get-off-my-lawn-ism. It makes me cringe…

…but of course, I’m reading every word.

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