If Koons were to exhibit a series of bronze figures produced according to a traditional “lost wax” method, the hands of the modelers of the wax — fingerprints even — would be captured, and upon close examination revealed.

Better evidence of the “hand” there could not be. Yet still Koons would not be in any danger of being called a “craftsman.”

No, the “craft” (noun) of wax working would reside in the wax worker; and the wax would have been “crafted” (verb) by those same wax workers.

The art, the “craft,” possessed by Koons, and I think in these latest pieces (Wind Up, Portable City) the art most practiced by Anne Wilson, is the architectonic art: the art of ordering the other arts.

Wilson is a good artist, and too is capable of crafting objects in a most skillful manner. I don’t know that I am willing to be led to believe the same about Koons. Having written that, my opinions are less well regarded than are their reputations; and I damage myself more than them with the present inquiry.

But it seems ironic that where a good deal of both the interview and also the commentary deal with the concept of craft and clarity of language no one wonders about the making of things:

- Who performs the labor?
- In what manner is the reward of said labor divided? Fame as well as money?
- What sort of entry barriers to competition prohibit young and/or financially disadvantaged artists from working in a similar method?

Duncan and Anna did a great job. I have long enjoyed Ivan’s work, but found him a wonderful interviewee. One of my favorite shows on BaS! He is so self-critical amd so delightfully aware of the history of his approach (Frank King is one of my faves), so articulate in an enjoyable fashion. I always thought he was an angry guy! If we could get “fine” artists to be as critical (in all senses) of the artworld, as knowledgeable of history and sas engaged with technical, personal and content-matters as Ivan, we would live in a far far better (art)world.

Each of these artists utilizes workshop fabrication, and teams of assistants to create the finely crafted work they produce. A major point of difference is that the art of Anne Wilson is often focused upon handwork, while Koons and Murakami, for whom craft plays more a secondary role, strive to efface the hand entirely.

Wilson is also different from other artists in her approach to artistic ownership. She has joined Koons and Murakami in taking on the role of “artist as facilitator,” but the collaborative nature of her recent work can be set against the nameless herds of studio assistants in the ateliers of other artists.

This stresses the importance of the act of making within her work, and highlights the cultural and political significance of craft. In so doing, we are confronted with the implications of the loss of making within Western society, and the politics of labor.

Looking at the resurgence of craft as a response to a “culture of the screen”, as Wilson put it, a move toward tactility may be tonic for the detachment of the digital age. It can also be seen as a response to the exportation of labor to third world countries, and the growing despondency in our political situation.

Wilson’s emphasis on continual shifts between micro and macro emphasize the need to reassess at the current situation, in the art world as well as the globalized world.

I think in the US we forgot what a carrot even looks like some days.

Political Corect Blondeau Fine Art Services (Geneva, Switzerland)
September 18 - October 25, 2008…Peter Saul…Pettibon…
coincidence/synchronicity? You decide.

By the way, Richard, his name is difficult — but it would be close to this (using English analogies): “Air-in-trout”. Martin’s is like “Co-bay”.

hey great show. i always prefer episodes of artists talking about art. anyway really enjoyed this one…interesting pairing too. powhida’s and pete’s work are extremely different on many levels, but both spoke about their projects openly and honestly. worked well together. good stuff.

happy 3 year anniversary!

I know how you feel about Saul — I always feel that way when I talk to Gene Colan. I also felt similarly recently when I had some correspondence with William T. Wiley and he sent me an authographed book and stuff. It is nice to be all grown up and profi and all and still have the joy of being overwhelmed by enthusiasm and appreciation.

William Powhida was quite interesting. Can I sign up to be your “enemy”? I’d love to get trounced in a drawing. I’d definitely nail you back in a Cover painting and then make a T-shirt out of both for each of us.

Walking into Hoffman’s space on the 25th I was struck by the amount of ferrous metal that I encountered; too, I noticed that said metal had been fabricated into angular structures — angular structures that provided the support for, and contributed to the ultimate shape of, the artworks.

The color of the filaments used in Wind-Up - Walking the Warp received immediate and sustained attention. I’ve wondered for months about what was underneath them: the square tube and round stock used in the fabrication of the giant frame/peg loom upon which those filaments were hung.

Was the steel work done in studio? The plastic work involved in producing the vitrines that encased Portable City? If said objects were produced for, rather than produced by, the artist: Is it necessary to think more carefully about the artist as maker? I suppose that I imagine a spectrum with, oh, Koons and Brancusi at antipodes — as portrayed in their respective mythologies.

Christo: Running Fence, 1972-1976. Composed of textile elements strung between ferrous elements. Running-Walking. Fence-Warp. An action, and then a structure that defines. The movement from the ‘72 to ‘08 being a movement from the organic [the more "Natural" quality of line, at least] to something much more rigid…c’est la vie.

NONE SHALL PASS!!

I will never reference anything. I will refer to things, I will cite them, and I will make/write/display/utilize/use references. Check this out:
http://time-blog.com/looking_around/2008/04/the_decline_and_fall_of_wester.html

Mostly, my bad habit, is typos and then not using the correction feature to fix them.

I too was struck with how clearly all spoke here. This is not all that common in over-memorizing beaurocratic and academic artworldia. Thus, for some reason, the refernce then stuck out to me. More important, though, were all the other far more salient points of the discussion.