Zombie Figuration Isn’t a Thing: A Critical Autopsy with Antwaun Sargent
Jordan Casteel, “Within Reach”, New Museum installation view, 2020. Photo: Dario Lasagni
In this episode of Explain Me, critic and curator Antwaun Sargent joins us to discuss the effects of the pandemic and Alex Greenberger’s Zombie Figuration, a confusing essay that appeared earlier this month in ARTnews. We discuss race, criticism, and why art has limits.
BIOGRAPHY
Antwaun Sargent is an art critic and a writer who has contributed to The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vice and more, as well as essays to multiple museum publications. His first book, “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion” (Aperture) is out now. In April he announced a new partnership with Gagosian that will include working on four exhibitions and contributing features to their magazine. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
LISTENER ADVISORY: In this episode, Paddy Johnson occasionally repeats Antwaun Sargent’s words when his audio cuts out. This leads to periodic moments when Johnson and Sargent speak at the same time.
LINKS
EARLY WHITNEY BIENNIAL REVIEWS
Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts
Institutional failure, Trump's Agenda, and Meme-Driven Conservative Movements: A Talk with Nayland Blake
Artist Nayland Blake joins the podcast to discuss the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer, mass protests, and the resurgence of COVID as the backdrop for public art and how museums are addressing diversity. Spearheaded in large part by Blake, we discuss all of these issues through the lens of what people need and how art makers, art workers and arts institutions answer that need.
We started the conversation with Blake's recent twitter thread on art criticism.
"Art criticism is the activity of thinking with and through art objects," they wrote. "If you constantly reach for the same few objects to think with, you stagnate as a critic and simply reinforce your own bias."
Other relevant links mentioned in the show:
Nayland Blake's website
Julie Mehretu's Goldman Saks mural
Support Explain Me by becoming a member on Patreon.
five common misconceptions about Artist statements at cadaf June 26th and 27th
Date: June 26, 27 at 12:00 New York (EST) / 17:00 London (BST) / 18:00 Paris (CEST).
Good news for those looking to get a sneak peak at the artist statement workshops I offer. I made a tiny preview in the form of a webinar on five common misconceptions about the artist statement. My parents even make a cameo!
.Art Domains will be presenting the webinar as part of their cultural programming at the Contemporary and Digital Art Fair CADAF online. The description below:
As part of the program, .art is presenting an artist workshop by renowned new media curator and art critic Paddy Johnson. Paddy Johnson is New York-based art critic, blogger, curator and a writer for publications like CNN, The New York Times, and New York Magazine. Relying on her two decades of experience in the art world, she teaches workshops that allow artists to learn the craft of describing their artwork. During the workshop Paddy will sum up the five common misperceptions about artist statements, which is an integral part of creative branding.
.Art Domains They also will be presenting a wide range of art, including Bitforms Gallery’s Claudia Hart show Tree of Life. To read about their full programming, click here.
The purpose of Artist Statements demonstrated through artist statements
Laurie Frick, “Imagined Time”, found cut and handmade paper on panels, a series based on the memory and experience of time. 54 in x 72 in - 72 in - 96 in. 2008-2011
The art world undervalues artist statements. Many artists loath writing them. Critics love to complain about them. But a good artist statement can be disassembled and re-assembled for a variety of uses, from grant applications to instagram promo text. The value of versatility and modularity can not be underestimated in the online environment. In this context, the artist statement can make a viewer look more carefully, and a collector or grantor more inclined to part with their money.
I started offering artist statement webinars to give artists the skills to produce flexible text they could use for any purpose. Happily, that process not only produced positive results, but introduced me to so many talented new artists, that I feel compelled to share their art. I deeply believe in the work they have done and hope you gain the same joy I have digging into their art.
Let’s start with Barbara Nitke’s photography, whose work readers might have seen mentioned in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine and VICE . Her own words, though, best describe her relationship to the images. “The people I select to photograph generally reside on the dark side of life–sex workers, sadomasochists, genderqueer hedonists, crossdressers, gamblers, fugitives.” she writes. “They are my heroes and muses because, for me, they represent a high form of authenticity, acting out urges that most of us prefer to repress.”
Other artists write just as compellingly about their work. In a short quip on her website, Dulcee Boehm distinguishes her glitter corn dogs, and church karaokes from art produced in urban centers. “My work is from, not about rural places” she writes. Justin Levesque uses the internet’s interest in ice blue and polar ecologies as a means of critiquing cis male conquest online. ”I queer the contemporary re-performance of colonial image-making by producing and appropriating blue photos of blue places,” he explains.
Meg Stein observes that “banality is another word for the invisible”, as a lede into the idea that common objects reveal more about ourselves and gender roles than we tend to acknowledge. Melissa Staiger cites the broad arc of a rainbow as inspiration for her hard-edged paintings; Laurie Frick contrasts the cold computational qualities of data with warm colored patterns in her public art works, sculptures and collages; Monica Panzarino’s Nipulator, a custom built electronic bra, live processes the sound of her visitors experience. “‘The Nipulator’ addresses the relationship between the body and technology while playfully fetishizing the utilitarian nature of the nipple,” she writes.
Melissa Murray, "In a few short hours I would be five miles above it, in the cold steely blue of enemy skies." 2017
It’s always dangerous to indulge in generalization, but the most poignant statements I read tend to come from a deeply personal place. Melissa Murray’s statement about making paintings that respond to the demands of life and motherhood might offer one of the better example of this, “The work is about making new spaces where there is no room, facing death while creating life, losing yourself through transformation,” she writes. “They are about fear and the unknown.”
The beauty of this statement lies not just in its honesty but in its delivery. The statement gives the viewer information already within the paintings, but that could be missed with a cursory glance. Ultimately, Murray succeeds because she recognizes the purpose of a statement is not to add metaphor to art works already rich with them, but to unpack all that’s beneath their surface.
Revolution for the Family: Heather Bhandari and Nikki Columbus on Pandemic Parenting, Art, and Activism
The Abrons Art Center has paid all their staff and performers during the shutdown.
This week on Explain Me, co-hosts William Powhida and Paddy Johnson talk to arts organizers and activists Heather Bhandari and Nikki Columbus about the challenges for mothers during the pandemic, and the challenges for arts workers seeking to make changes to a system that no longer works for them.
Of the family-focused topics discussed we take on pandemic screen time for kids (Bhandari describes DinoTrux as terrible for kids, but a necessary evil), what to do if your toddler licks a bodega door, and disrupted schedules that make it impossible to find or look for work and require long and often unusual hours.
On the subject of organizing we discuss several projects spearheaded by Bhandari and Columbus respectively designed to pave actionable paths for artists.
Finally we discuss Frieze New York, and contrast their dubious charity efforts during the fair to the more collective NADA art fair model that works towards a sustainable model for everyone. Show links below.
Art/Work, Heather Bhandari and Jonathan Melber
N+1, Free Your Mind, by Claire Bishop and Nikki Columbus
Art+Work+Place, Emergency Session I, Veralist Center
Art+Work+Place, Emergency Session II, Veralist Center
Museum transparency Newsletter (Read about all the layoffs and other bad news that’s happening in the museum world right now—of which there is a ton.)
The Model Model: Ethical Actions by Arts Organizations in the time of COVID-19 (Read about the good news and exemplary work by arts organizations.)
#graduatetogether2020 (twitter hashtag)
Frieze Art Fair (May 8-15th)
NADA Fair (May 20-June 21)
tips and resources for freelance artists affected by covid 19
Image via: Arthandlermag
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking at resource lists and services for artists. They’re helpful for those who can navigate them, but an average human will not have the resources or patience. What follows is a list of tips and resources designed to save you time because the truth of the matter is, unemployment and under-employment usually sucks up more time than employment fills. What can artists who have lost their jobs do to regain financial stability? Here are the people and resources that can help you through this.
BEST WEBINARS AND WEBSITES PROVIDING UNEMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE
COVID relief for artists Zoom meeting with Congress member Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Brad Hoylman, State Assembly member Yuh-line Niou, Council member Carlina Rivera, Council member Brad Lander, Rafael Espinal, Freelancers Union, Michael Royce, New York Foundation for the Arts, Nicole Salk, Legal Services NYC, Commissioner Lorelai Salas, New York City Department of Consumer & Worker Protections, Commissioner Gregg Bishop, NYC Small Business Services. (New York specific) Video link
FAQ for freelancers applying for COVID 19 relief. (New York specific) Brad Landers.
Artist Inc webinar series for artists navigating COVID 19 relief. (Mid West specific.) MAAA.org
Hannah Cole webinars on the latest tax law changes affecting freelance artists, and how to plan your finances in an economic downturn. Sunlight Tax.
Layoff Hardship Checklist. Sunlight Tax.
NOTES ON EMERGENCY GRANTS
Most emergency grants currently provide relief in the $500 range. That’s changing due to need, but even tripled, the amount offered will not be enough for most freelancers out of work. The relief bill allocates $300 million to arts agencies, and Americans for the Arts reports an immediate loss of approximately 3.6 billion. Freelance artists affected by COVID-19 should apply for unemployment through their state (info above). Those applications are not available in all states yet, so be sure to reach out to the arts organizations in your region that support artists, and contact your local representative. It’s their job to help you.
BEST CURATED EMERGENCY GRANT LISTS
REMOTE FREELANCING
Online transcription jobs with sites like Rev have waiting lists but you can still apply. They describe the low end of the pay as roughly .30 per audio minute which typically works out to about $8 an hour. Beware of disturbing recordings. Not a living wage, but in a crunch like now it can help cover rent. More advanced typists should try Alligis.
Teaching ESL online to kids in China may work for those on the east coast (Pacific time zone tends to require work hours in the middle of the night) but the pay tends to be low. VIPKid pays $7 per 25 minute lesson and doesn’t include class prep. It takes about a week to go through the testing and enrollment process.
FACEBOOK GROUPS AND JOB BOARDS WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS
Art Opportunities, Jobs and Advice
Photography Professors (Private)