"What it Means to Write About Art: Interviews with art critics" by Jarrett Earnest, published by David Zwirner Books (courtesy David Zwirner)
The job of an arts writer, one of my professors would say at least once per class, is to “complete the circuit.” She always said this reverently, allowing a short, sacred hush before moving on with her lecture. I’d invariably imagine a loose wire spraying sparks into the air – the sad fate of all art that failed to earn a written response.
What It Means to Write About Art: Interviews with art critics will have limited appeal, although it has much to offer those who find themselves reading or writing art criticism. Comprised of interviews with 30 leading American art critics, mostly from New York, the book is a super-dense compendium of wit and wisdom, interspersed with beautiful blooms of language.
Though not always a delight – the book occasionally condescends to insider gossip – interviewer Jarrett Earnest’s belief that criticism is an art form in itself is enough to reassure even the loneliest Canadian arts writer.
Jarrett Earnest, assorted portraits of art critics, 2015-2017, Fuji Instax photographs (courtesy Jarrett Earnest and David Zwirner)
Earnest posits that criticism is an extension of each writer’s emotional and intellectual predispositions. It’s remarkable, he writes in his introduction, how little attention is given to understanding a critic’s perspectives. His central question is deceptively simple – who are these critics and what do they want from art in the first place?
Assuming a direct connection between early biography and mature views on art, Earnest frequently asks about early aesthetic experiences. The answers, not surprisingly, often involve serendipitous exposure to modern painting.
More is learned from his questions about the relationship to language, to description, to objectivity. This is where the book’s content moves from milk to meat – in the varied tones and textures of each writer’s response, in how each articulates their personal delight and intrigue with the near-ridiculous task of ascribing words to the purely visual.
“There’s no seam,” says Michael Fried, “between what is called description and what is called interpretation.” If you try to write rationally, says Dave Hickey, “it will sound stupid, because it’s not rational. It’s a set of waves.” Or Hal Foster: “My experience of aesthetic wonder was cut with a feeling of social discontent, and I think that made me a critic.”
One theme that emerges, slowly but definitively, is this: Writers draw out content. Writers make art matter. As Holland Cotter says, “Art doesn’t speak for itself.” ■
What It Means to Write About Art: Interviews with art critics by Jarrett Earnest: David Zwirner Books, New York, 2018.
