Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Jargon Daze

by Art Fag City on July 16, 2008 · 16 comments The L Magazine

hill.jpg
Gary Hill, Frustrum, 2006, Image via: Gladstone Gallery

I’d like to thank the gallerist at Gladstone responsible for their 2007 Gary Hill press release, as it provided much fodder for my latest piece at the L Magazine.  This week I discuss art buzzwords and jargon.  Feel free to add a few of your favorites in the comments below.

Lately I've been having this fantasy where I see a talk or read a review in which someone manages to avoid using any art world buzzwords. You know, a conversation that doesn't use the term “conflation” to describe the fusing of various kinds of jargon, or one that refrains from labeling any physical manifestation of this concept as a “reification” (I'm confused already).

Yes, inanity abounds in the art world, particularly in the form of art speak. Just last year, for example, I overheard a puffed-up sales pitch from an art consultant in Caren Golden Fine Art, describing a collage with a few pylons in water as “the detritus of human civilization.” I'd like to reissue my art world call to reclaim the word “garbage” — surely dealers and consultants are skilled enough to sell work and use an unsightly noun from time to time. Other gallery-sanitized art words include “clean line,” a legitimately useful term to describe a fluid line drawn in one stroke, and the use of “erotic” to describe virtually any raunchy  sexually explicit material.

Another art-world go-to I've come to dislike finds roots in the world of commerce. “Invested with _____” a turn of phrase that owes its legitimacy to capitalism, isn't actively awful, though I expect the significance of an artwork could be expressed without attributing capital to it. By contrast, “slippage,” a financial term describing the estimated transaction costs and the amount actually paid, is most frequently used in art contexts without its economic connotations, characterizing the ambiguity between one concept and another — the art professional's actual thoughts are typically obscured once this term is introduced. “Slippage exists in the gray areas of language and social interaction,” reads one press release from 2006, never going on to describe what this means.  In this case, I'd almost prefer the financial definition — the sentence would become unreadable, but at least it would be specific.

To read the full piece click here. 

{ 16 comments }

ed h. July 16, 2008 at 2:50 pm

Nice piece and thanks for linking those two recent British articles on theoretical puffery.

I also have an aversion to “Late Capitalism.” I mean, it’s getting pretty late at this point…

ed h. July 16, 2008 at 2:50 pm

Nice piece and thanks for linking those two recent British articles on theoretical puffery.

I also have an aversion to “Late Capitalism.” I mean, it’s getting pretty late at this point…

ed h. July 16, 2008 at 9:50 am

Nice piece and thanks for linking those two recent British articles on theoretical puffery.

I also have an aversion to “Late Capitalism.” I mean, it’s getting pretty late at this point…

a.d. nix July 17, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Are artists allowed to do something other than “explore” these days? Rarely a “challenge” or “subversion” or anything that applies something other than (innocuously) poking around. You know – just seeing what’s up.

a.d. nix July 17, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Are artists allowed to do something other than “explore” these days? Rarely a “challenge” or “subversion” or anything that applies something other than (innocuously) poking around. You know – just seeing what’s up.

a.d. nix July 17, 2008 at 9:23 am

Are artists allowed to do something other than “explore” these days? Rarely a “challenge” or “subversion” or anything that applies something other than (innocuously) poking around. You know – just seeing what’s up.

dyn July 18, 2008 at 3:55 am

Also, “hegemony”. There is a distinct “hegemony” hegemony.

dyn July 18, 2008 at 3:55 am

Also, “hegemony”. There is a distinct “hegemony” hegemony.

dyn July 17, 2008 at 10:55 pm

Also, “hegemony”. There is a distinct “hegemony” hegemony.

Art Fag City July 18, 2008 at 4:10 am

Hegemony is actually mentioned in the piece.

Art Fag City July 18, 2008 at 4:10 am

Hegemony is actually mentioned in the piece.

Art Fag City July 17, 2008 at 11:10 pm

Hegemony is actually mentioned in the piece.

Art Fag City July 20, 2008 at 11:06 pm

I guess “fart around” hasn’t taken off as a replacement for “explore”. God knows why…

Art Fag City July 20, 2008 at 6:06 pm

I guess “fart around” hasn’t taken off as a replacement for “explore”. God knows why…

Claire July 21, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Claire July 21, 2008 at 3:11 pm

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