October 1st, 2012
Recap: Why Don’t Art Books Rate Review?
A brief summary in images and tweets.
On Saturday, September 29, the NY Art Book Fair presented a panel discussion moderated by Lesley A. Martin, publisher of The PhotoBook Review, that featured Sharon Gallagher, president and publisher of ARTBOOK | D.A.P, and Alberto Mobilio, co-editor of Bookforum.
@aperturefnd: Is there an increased or different form of literacy associated the art book that hasn’t yet reached the mainstream?#photobooks —LAM
@aperturefnd: It’s a different thing to write review of a collection photos. How does one deal with visual material and objects, with non-textual content? —AM
The dearth of public commentary on photo- and art books and the scant attention paid to art writing can be disheartening. There’s a “Best American Writing on Mathematics” series but none for art? These two blindspots in mainstream cultural commentary were the topics under discussion on this panel.
@aperturefnd: “you wouldn’t expect to read a poetry review without a quotation from a poem…it’s very hard to quote when the quote is visual” —SG
@aperturefnd: We must distinguish between reviews as marketing events vs. reviews as in-depth analysis and discussion, critique. #photobooks
Follow us on twitter (@aperturefnd).
Reminds me of a quote I have always enjoyed by Dick Higgins written in 1895 I believe:
“Most of our criticism in art is based on a work with separable meaning, content and style – “this is what it says” and “here is how it says what it says”. But the language of normal criticism is not geared towards the discussion of an experience, which is the main focus of artist’s books.”
M