There are not enough wind turmines in America to keep up with what is being produced at Critical Edge. Ruth Lopez, Art and Design editor at Timeout Chicago has said this about artists.
An artist belongs in the studio
Not really, but we don't need artists to write to improve the state of cultural journalism, we need arts journalists to be supported in their work, to be given space in their sections and the front of the book and to work with arts editors not generalists bumped over from sports or whatever (there we go again with sports). The artist/writer role has always existed, bravo—go hang out at the College Art Association. But having read a fair amount of artist/writers, interviewed artists (many brilliant, inarticulate ones) and having waded through my share of ridiculous “Artist Statements,” I know that what we need does not exist outside of our field. Yeah, this is one of those “the power is within” ideas with a touch of protectionism but I think that it might take care of the “objectivity” concern.
Clearly, Lopez is not trying to woo or cajole the artist community because if a man said to me on our first date, “A Woman Belongs in the Kitchen“, and followed it with, “Well, not really, but I’d love a sandwich“, it would be a deal breaker. Guess what else is a deal breaker? Someone telling me they know more about the work I’ve made, then I do. Granted, the degree of written and verbal skill varies from artist to artist, but there is a difference between a call for greater rigor from the artist community in their written work, and telling us to get lost all together.
Update: Other artist bloggers have voiced disapproval on this as well, Speaking of Ashes, Art Soldier, and LeisureArts (read the comments).
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