Art Theorists Speak Out Cartoonishly
September 27, 2006 | Edward Tufte
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Here’s a small collection of art cartoons revolving around various visits, by sheep and by riggers, to my sculptures.
First, some play with windy verbalizing Art Theorists, who see with predetermined words rather than with open eyes and open minds:
THE ART THEORY OF JOSEPH KOSUTH
Topics: 3-Star Threads, Art, E.T.
THE ART THEORY OF BARBARA HERRNSTEIN SMITH
The second caption could also read –
“When you put your ear to it, it sounds like an art theorist talking.”
For the artoon Art Theory: Joseph Kosuth, the quotation is from Joseph Kosuth, “Art After Philosophy,”Studio International (October, 1969) and here.
In about half the sentences in Kosuth’s essay, if the word not is appropriately placed near the main verb so as to reverse its meaning, the revised sentence is approximately as plausible as the original sentence. Indeed, for some sentences, the sentence and its negation are both false or without meaning.
For the photocartoon Art Theory: Barbara Herrnstein Smith, the quotation is from Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Contingencies of Value: Alternative Perspectives for Critical Theory (Cambridge, 1988), 34; as quoted in David Lehman, Signs of Times: Deconstruction and the Fall of Paul de Man (New York, 1991), 25.
A good essay by Roberta Smith:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/arts/design/23smit.html?ref=design