Sunday, May 12, 2013

Writing About Art Lecture

Reasons to write about art:-
  • Contribute- To be an active viewer and not passive. 
  • Dialogue- Responding to and evaluating art, which can be part of the process of creativity.
  • Archive- Exhibitions and shows can just disappear and be forgotten about, writing about the event can record what is important. 
  • Think- Writing to work out what your think and form your opinions, to develop as a creative. 

What is criticism? Fault-finding? Judgement? Negative? Discrimination? Appreciation? Taste? Cultivated? 

Art Criticism can be very London- centric, and can focus on the big, established exhibitions- often overlooking the ones at smaller venues and by lesser known artists. 

Examples of where writings about art may be found- Art Monthly, Freize, Creative Review, A-N newsletter.
Arty- a fanzine. Written by fans of art. the critical friend, this will take contributions of articles. 

Things to include when writing about art:-
  • Admin- Name of the exhibition, the artist, venue details and dates etc. 
  • Description- Recording the work/exhibition and what took place. Using senses to describe surroundings and occurrences. 
  • Research- Familiarise yourself with the artists work, understand themes and ideas. how does it relate to other work the artist has previously done?
  • Context- How is the work being shown? Intentions of the curator? Does it relate to current or past exhibitions?
  • Evaluation- Do you find the show interesting and why? Does it effectively do and achieve what the artist aimed for? Do some bits work better than others?

No comments:

Post a Comment