One thought on “When did the art world get so conservative?”

1. Glad to see your reply, Sam. My initial thoughts on reading his piece was “doth the gentleman protest too much?” let alone the position of privilege he writes from yet is seemingly unaware of.

   I can’t say I disagree with him completely that attempting to say “this topic is off limits for art/for this artist” seems anti-creative, and he does have a reasonably salient point about the culture wars and the 90s–indeed post 9/11 even is radically different than the year previous to it insofar as representation. However, he strangely neglects to mention that throughout the history of fine arts, say since the Renaissance, the dictates of ‘taste’ have always been a deciding factor (usually attached to a visible or invisible power structure). The early 20th century (which he again neglects to mention) sees an inundation of boundary-pushing art (Surrealism, Italian Futurism, Dada) much of which defied the boundaries of ‘acceptability’ and even the established (read: comfortable) definitions of ‘what art is’, like Marcel Duchamp’s infamous urinal or dubiously fuzzy bowl. But even these are largely old-white-man art that fetishized and co-opted the bodies and subjectivities that he’s defending himself against (a precarious position for him, indeed!).

   Though your post and his article do leave me with a question I’m pondering myself now: what happens when ‘justice warriors’ (a term that itself has been maligned of late) and artists are at odds? I think the answer, for me, is “a conversation.”