regarding art snobbery...

Now, I am one to always come down on the side of contemporary art and intellectualism, and I abhor the ongoing attacks from pop culture in the form of mockery, but even so...

Last weekend at the public lecture for the Site Santa Fe Biennial, it's curator, Klaus Ottman, actually uttered these words (emphasis mine, to capture his inflection): "...but the theme is that there is no theme!" (Now, repeat that to yourself in a german accent and excited tone, to get the effect.)

I nearly blew milk out my nose, and I wasn't even drinking any. Could he have said anything more pretentious, more cliched, than that? It was like the Spinal Tap of artspeak, it sounded like it could have been on the Simpson's, or in Daniel Clowes Art School Confidential. It sounded ridiculous.

This is why, I thought to myself, this is why they mock us. We just walk right into it. If I can't take it seriously, who the hell does? It's those times when I almost...just a tiny bit...get Kuspit. But then he hasn't appealed to me since he juried an awful show here. The only one I've consistently agreed with is Dave Hickey, who seems to leave the bullshit & artspeak at the door, very refreshing.

As to the rest of the biennial? A snooze. It left me cold, only Carsten Nicolai's work managed to move me. There are only 13 artists, each of whom has their own room, so in contrast to previous biennials it seemed stingy & sparse, & left one feeling a bit cheated. Considering the lengths to which previous curators have gone -- off-site installations, live performance (that you don't have to pay $20 for), even modifying the outside of the building, Ottman's approach seemed a tad lazy and uninspired -- although others have been kind enough to call it "conservative". No one I spoke to that weekend seemed too impressed. I have been a Catherine Opie fan, but her work relied so heavily on context that it ultimately failed, in my eyes. The painting was awful, and I used to be a huge Jennifer Bartlett fan but felt her new work lacked the same aesthetic pull. And I had looked forward to Wolfgang Laib's work, but it somehow felt just like a minimilist exercise in spatial composition, unlike when he uses natural materials.

Ottman did say one thing that was good, but after everything else he said it seemed disingenuous: "I want this show to be about the artists and not the curator". I believe he tries, and perhaps even means well, but his own pompousness got in the way.