Let's Ask Some Questions
A couple posts back, I mentioned the book Art is Life by Jerry Saltz. I’m sharing a link to an article he wrote a few years ago for Vulture, What the Hell Was Modernism?, that was featured in his book. I’m recommending it for those who want to get a feel for Saltz’s writing, those who are interested in Modernism, those who are skeptical of contemporary art, those who are interested in craft, and everyone else too. It’s ten minutes of your life. What’s to lose?
The article is a great example of the type of criticism I’m most interested in. Rather than an opinion of a specific work by a specific artist, it’s a general critique of a wide arc of art history. It’s valuable for the ideas and context it raises specific to Modernism, but it also serves as a possible template for reevaluating other movements and trends in art and craft.
Try reading it once through at face value. I think it’s a great take on Modernism. I love Modernism, it has a large influence on my work. But it’s healthy to understand where it might fall short, where it might lead to dead ends, where it’s flat out wrong. I still love Modernism after reading the article. I just have more ways to think about it, more context, more space for other things.
Then maybe read the article a second time and replace every mention of ‘Modernism’ with ‘traditional craft’ or ‘green woodworking’ or ‘spoon carving’ or ‘chairmaking’ or whatever niche of craft is particular to you. It’s not going to work every time. It might feel way off base. Try to suspend your disbelief and set aside knee-jerk reactions. Pretend you’re on a debate team that has to defend the position opposite of what feels right to you. Some points will surely not translate, not be a fair comparison. But others may surprise you. Let yourself wonder.
I think there is a lot of taking-for-granted in the presentation of craft, its history, knowledge, practice, and meanings. A lot of people seem to toe the same line a lot of the time. The stories can often feel deterministic and set in stone. It all starts to sound like platitudes. There’s maybe a desperation to find salvation from the ills of modern life through a deeper meaning in craft. People don’t want to ask too many questions about the craft scriptures that give them solace.
But I think we can have it both ways. I think we can hold onto the deep meaning and still ask questions. I think we can retain the serious, reverent and special side of craft while also allowing the silly, ironic and mundane. It feels dissociative to hold craft up as all good all the time. Craft is of us, not something we can separate out and put on a pedestal above the other parts of life.
Let’s aim the lines of inquiry from art criticism right at craft and see what shakes out.