Criticism, Essays, Art C. Philip Mills Criticism, Essays, Art C. Philip Mills

A Response to Adam Lehrer’s “The Limits of MAGA Art”

Today, there is really no urgency to reflect on Jon McNaughton’s body of work. Adam Lehrer’s recent article in Compact, “The Limits of MAGA Art,'' stakes this out clearly. There is much less danger to endorsing McNaughton in the midst of a failing Biden presidency than there was at the height of anti-Trump hysteria . . . Why address it at all then?

Read More
Criticism, Essays, Film, Art Omair Hussain Criticism, Essays, Film, Art Omair Hussain

Donald Judd: Crisis of the Aesthetic

In his writings on cultural objects, Adorno self-consciously employed a prismatic and monadological method. The idea was to approach each cultural object as a monad, as a self-contained entity that, if viewed properly, could prismatically illuminate the character of the social totality. This essay seeks to apply a similar method to a work by Donald Judd: Untitled (1967).

Read More
Criticism, Essays Patrick Zapien Criticism, Essays Patrick Zapien

Crisis of Criticism

Why is it that so much writing on art today — ostensibly criticism — only skates on the surface of artworks, providing description, identifying a handful subjects and themes, maybe some precedents, and then a conclusion — or rather, an ending. The writing stops.

Read More
Criticism, Essays Patrick Zapien Criticism, Essays Patrick Zapien

Sense and Non-Sense

The main problem that the artist encounters at work — the source of all their woes and triumphs — is that materials must be transformed: made to give what they cannot. Appearance is the mask of the true face beneath.

Read More