| In strictly classical terms, “Negative Space” is defined as that which lies outside or around the subject, image or form, generally unnoticed but essential in framing our perceptions. |
| BRUSSELS.- Contemporary Art has painted itself into a corner. The old Avant Garde’s demand for constant renewal can no longer compete with the market demand for fresh blood, novelty and the dictates of fashion. The classic art historical concept of Movements and Manifestos have been superceded by seasons and sensations. Artists are as a result no longer judged by their historical resilience but according to their most recent auction sale. A young unknown Indian or Chinese painter can now be “ranked” higher than Duchamp or Manzoni according to the ubiquitous top 100 lists that proliferate in Art Magazines polluting the space between the advertising and advertorial. The reality of the contemporary art market demand is that artists have neither the time nor the opportunity for real structural renewal, nor the space for philosophical growth and development. Instead of interrogating history or killing their idols, artists, and their market, seem content with slight of hand aesthetic adjustments and cynical asides. The Avant Garde itself was a reaction to the dehumanising effects of the growing industrialisation of European culture and the increasing insensitivities that Capitalism defined itself by. Through the twentieth century our predecessors were more than happy to rape the planet, abuse their neighbours, and decimate any culture, faith, tradition in the subjugation of every form of life in their pursuit of profit by any means necessary. The golden age of reckless abandonment is thankfully now over and Capitalism hangs on by a single golden thread and the potential role of the artist in society never been more critical. As the planet increasingly claims back what is rightfully hers and our fragile human existence is ripped apart by tsunamis, droughts, famine, earthquakes, riots, religious wars and as the world economies swing into full frontal bankruptcies, what, if any, is the role that art could play ? The exhibition “Handgrenades From My Heart” at Galerie Rodolphe Janssen is a meditation upon “Negative Space” and chance, a return to the human body as both subject and object in art. Only our bodies do not lie for the day we learn to speak is the day we learn to lie, even if our desires and intentions be for the contrary. |
via artdaily
Forrest Loder says: 
r3ckon 