Unnatural Wonders: Essays from the Gap Between Art and Life
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Arthur C. Danto's essays not only critique bodies of work but reflect upon art's conceptual evolution as well, drawing for the reader a kind of "philosophical map" indicating how art and the criteria for judging it has changed over the twentieth century. In Unnatural Wonders the renowned critic finds himself at a point when contemporary art has become wholly pluralistic, even chaotic-with one medium as good as another-and when the moment for the "next thing" has already passed. So the theorist goes in search of contemporary art's most exhilarating achievements, work that bridges the gap between art and life, which, he argues, is now the definitive art of our time. Danto considers the work of such young artists as John Currin and Renee Cox and older living masters including Gerhard Richter and Sol LeWitt. He discusses artists of the New York School, like Philip Guston and Joan Mitchell, and international talents, such as the South African William Kentridge. Danto conducts a frank analysis of Matthew Barney's The Cremaster Cycle, Damien Hirst's skeletons and anatomical models, and Barbara Kruger's tchotchke-ready slogans; finds the ghost of Henry James in the work of Barnett Newman; and muses on recent Whitney Biennials and art influenced by 9/11. He argues that aesthetic considerations no longer play a central role in the experience and critique of art. Instead art addresses us in our humanity, as men and women who seek meaning in the "unnatural wonders" of art, a meaning that philosophy and religion are unable to provide.Kirkus ReviewsA collection of pieces written since "the end of art"-not to be confused with the death of art. Borrowing his concept from Hegel, respected critic Danto observes that unlike the centuries of art made for spiritual needs, the art of our time has generally lost the power to communicate on its own and must be explained, because we have only an external relationship with it. Plato argued that pictures are the same as dreams, shadows, reflections or illusions, but now that contemporary artists use any or all materials, we often view the actual object as art. Paradoxically, now that it no longer offers the illusion or reflection of reality, art is no longer understood as an essential part of life and has to be interpreted in a museum. What is the difference, asks Danto (Philosophy/Columbia Univ.; Madonna of the Future, 2000, etc.), between Warhol's Brillo Box and a cardboard case of Brillo Pads? He illustrates these introductory thoughts with more than two dozen columns from the Nation (required reading for those who pay attention to contemporary art since it began publishing Danto in 1984), ranging from the 2000 Whitney Biennial through the artistic reaction to September 11 and the nation's culture wars while dealing with major artists and exhibitions of the recent past. Danto sympathetically assesses Damien Hirst (sliced-up sharks suspended in formaldehyde) and eloquently explains why some initially impenetrable art might have compelling statements to make, but he doesn't spare artists he feels are not pulling their weight, lamenting the hot Paul McCarthy's juvenile art of "disgust" and tackling the very uneven quality of the talented (and even hotter) Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. Alsoincluded are a handful of essays written for exhibition catalogues, transcripts of lectures, and reviews of important exhibitions of such pre-end artists as Leonardo, Gentileschi, and Chardin. Among the most sensible, intelligent, logical, and accessible art criticism of the last five years.
Introduction : art criticism after the end of art3Whitney Biennial 200019"Making choices" at MoMA27Chardin36Tilman Riemenschneider44Damien Hirst53Barbara Kruger61Yoko Ono69Sean Scully77Paul McCarthy85Sol LeWitt93Renee Cox : Yo mama's last supper101William Kentridge109Picasso Erotique117Art and 9/11125Philip Guston132Philip Guston : the Nixon drawings139Alberto Giacometti147Norman Rockwell155Surrealism and eroticism163Artemisia Gentileschi172Gerhard Richter180Barnett Newman and the heroic sublime188Joan Mitchell197The art of 9/11 : one year later205Reflections on Robert Mangold's curled figure and column paintings213The Park Avenue cubists219Leonardo's drawings226Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle234Christian Schad and the Sachlichkeit of sex242Kazimir Malevich251Max Beckmann258Whitney Biennial 2004265John Currin272Dieter Roth279Banality and celebration : the art of Jeff Koons286Two installations by Joshua Neustein303Kalliphobia in contemporary art; or : what ever happened to beauty?321The world as warehouse : Fluxus and philosophy333Painting and politics348The fly in the fly bottle : the explanation and critical judgment of works of art355
