Rambling Critic

Last night was Gallery Night in Milwaukee. It’s a seasonal event wherein local art galleries open their doors to the public in an after-hours festive celebration. It’s fun. It’s hip. And, even on a late January night, the streets and galleries were filled with art aficionados of all ages and stages of life. I love Gallery Night, but can I kvetch?

Who and what is behind the current fashion of forcing artists to write a paragraph or two explaining their work to viewers? The practice is abhorrent to every art appreciator I know, and demeaning to the artist as well. Do I really need to be told, in high falutin’ art-school-speak, that oozing green moss in your sculpture is a metaphor for queerness? Seriously.

And it’s not the artist who is to blame! Artists are being forced to do this for reasons incomprehensible to me. But here is the really sinister aspect - only new and emerging artists seem forced into this by curators and gallerists. It’s one more form of egalitarianism in our increasingly stratified world. If you’re a big enough name, if your paintings and sculptures sell for many thousands of dollars, viewers see a title, the artist’s name, and a price tag. Nothing more.

As it should be. For every artist.

Don’t get me started on “Untitled.”