CRITICIZING ART Understanding the Contemporary (excerpts)

Although a popular misconception about art criticism is that it is primarily judgmental and negative in tone, in actuality, most of the words written by critics are descriptive and interpretive rather than judgmental, and positive in tone. Critics seek to provide readers with information about artworks, and describing these artworks, many of which will not be seen by their readers. is one of their major activities. Describing is a kind of verbal pointing a critic does so that features of a work of art will be noticed and appreciated. It is also a data-gathering process. Based on, his or her descriptions. the critic ‘will form interpretations and judgments. If the critic’s description is inaccurate,, certainly, any following interpretation or judgment is suspect. With careful observation. descriptive information“ can be gathered from within the work--“internal information.” For teaching purposes. internal descriptive information is sometimes grouped under three topics: subject matter. medium, and form. These are defined with examples in the following sections. pornographic images, prehistoric female running figures, and defiantly vulgar women. In the first sentence. Shottenkirk can be said to be defining the artist’s subject-and now we can make a distinction between subject and subject mutter. According to the critic, Spero’s subject (or theme or main idea or recurring topic) is women’s nightmarish relationship to culture. To convey this general subject, the artist uses particular imagery, such as the prehistoric female running figure. This imagery is the subject matter of the art. To identify a theme is interpretive; to name subjects is more straightforwardly descriptive. Some scholars make a distinction between subject matter and content rather than subject matter and subject. However, content is a combination of all that is in a work of art--subject matter, the handling of media, form, and intent. When an artwork has no recognizable subject matter, the form itself is the subject. Content, however, needs to be interpreted and may include, for example, the artist’s expression of individuality. Critics also provide descriptive information about aspects not visible in the work--that is, contextual, Besides identifying the subject and naming the subject matter of Spero’s art, Shottenkirk goes on to information such as facts about the artist or the times in ‘characterize the artist’s treatment of her subject matter: which the art was made. This is “external information” and “Spero adopts’ the role of loud-mouthed raconteur, telling examples of this are given as well. “this ‘tale ‘of horror that others would like to ignore.” The Critics rarely describe artworks without also interpreting and evaluating them, and at the end of the chapter the overlaps among these activities are examined. The chapter begins. however. by discussing separately the three areas of description. defining relevant terms and concepts with the help of brief examples. Then it examines in greater detail the descriptive activities of critics through their writings about several contemporary artists working in different media.