Comments on: Letter from London: Turner Blind Eye

By: Letter from London: Terry O’Neill Award Show at Hotshoe Gallery | Art21 Blog

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:01:54 +0000

[...] It’s hard to see the work of emerging photographers hung in London. There are relatively few dedicated photography galleries and even fewer showing the work of fresh talent. To emerge as a photographer or photographic artist is indeed a complicated thing. Where does one emerge to? The art world now purports to accept photographic practice as part of its remit, but perhaps understandably, only a particular style or type makes it through. Compared to our European neighbours, France and Germany in particular, or our American cousins, the desire here is very small for those who cannot access the art market. The resulting polarization is a well-tread truism: Photography as Art or Art as Photography. Practitioners who occupy the middle ground seem to emerge elsewhere. The only other method by which to be successful, it seems, is as a genre-specific virtuoso; the best in fashion, the best in portraiture, and so on. Photojournalism, bar the work of a few genuinely inventive die-hards like Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, has lost cultural credence, falling off the tightrope it walked for so many years between form and function. As a result of all this, the main way that large sections of the British public get to access photography is when there is a Prize. [...]

By: Open Enrollment: And the Nominations Are In… | Art21 Blog

Open Enrollment: And the Nominations Are In… | Art21 Blog — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:09:33 +0000

[...] discourse – which isn’t very close. As the reader of an art blog, you’re probably aware of The Turner Prize, the annual art award for British visual artists under 50. For me as a non-Brit, I’ve only read [...]

By: Jared

Jared — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:38:43 +0000

Hi Ben, thanks for your reply, I think that’s definitely a valid critique, although as you hint at there will be many (in the in-crowd?) who would absolutely agree with you… and think it’s marvellous for the very reasons that you don’t.

Anyway, as an impartial observer this year I’m going to try and stay out of the debate and instead wish all of the nominees good luck!
Jared

By: Ben Street

Ben Street — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:32:19 +0000

You’re right, Jared. Maybe that was a bit much…

What I feel is that Dalwood’s very mannered works, that carry the burden of their own artistic and contextual reference rather heavily, are hard things to love. It’s as though he finds the act of painting a bit of a chore, unlike other vaunted ‘contemporary history painters’ like Kiefer, Neo Rauch, or Tuymans, all of whom seem to privilege the act of painting above political or historical content. You see it in the flatness of his surfaces and the arch distortions of space. He’s not bad, obviously. Just a bit too ‘in-crowd’, especially when compared with De la Cruz, who seems to revel in the application of the stuff, bad installations or not.

Thanks for your comment,
Ben

http://thebenstreet.blogspot.com/

By: Jared

Jared — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:54:47 +0000

Blimey that’s a bit harsh on Dexter!