{"id":1273,"date":"2009-11-12T01:21:51","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T09:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2009\/11\/the_new_museum_and_the_dick_ch\/"},"modified":"2009-11-12T01:21:51","modified_gmt":"2009-11-12T09:21:51","slug":"the_new_museum_and_the_dick_ch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2009\/11\/the_new_museum_and_the_dick_ch.html","title":{"rendered":"The New Museum and the Dick Cheney rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Powhida’s cartoon<\/a> attacking the New Museum<\/a> is terrific as a cartoon. As he points out in his blog<\/a>, in case the audience is too dim to see the connection, it derives from the slashing wit of Ad Reinhardt<\/a>, who terrorized reactionaries in the late 1940s.<\/p>\n

Cartoons are supposed to be unfair, one-sided and vehement. Powhida delivers on all counts. Less successful is the journalism that has risen like a surface to air missile to share in the attack. I’d like to propose the Dick Cheney rule for art writers. Is the subject under investigation poisoning the waterways, stealing from the poor to serve the rich, starting wars and trampling the Constitution? In short, is that person Dick Cheney?<\/p>\n

If not, wouldn’t it be a good idea to explore the issue with a little more dispassion? In spite of what a handful of art bloggers insist, there are many sides to the so-called ethical questions raised by the museum’s decision to feature the collection of one of its trustees, curated by Jeff Koons. (Good overview from the New York Times here<\/a>.)  <\/p>\n

Purity police chief Tyler Green<\/a> would prefer that we not see this show. I don’t know Dakis Joannou<\/a> and am not likely to be invited to his house. I do know about his collection and am grateful it will be on view to the public. <\/p>\n

About those ethical problems: I have them with museums featuring trustee collections only when the collections are mediocre. In that case, the exhibit is just flattery. Joannou’s collection is remarkable. I want to see it and don’t care whose board he’s on. <\/p>\n

The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone. O, the horror. Trustees know collectors who know artists who know dealers who know museum curators. Some of them sleep together. Some of them are married. Rather than slamming Elizabeth Peyton<\/a> and Urs Fischer<\/a> for being connected, how about looking at the work? Both of them are extraordinary artists. I saw the New Museum’s Peyton show. Like almost everything else at the the new version of the New Museum, it was badly installed (tough space), but I welcomed the chance to see that much of her work in one place. <\/p>\n

There is no rule against museums devoting shows to the work of a single collector. If there were, that rule would be made to be broken. Yes, the rich and powerful are involved in museums. Those for whom this information is a shock and an outrage are too pure (and rigid) to live in the world. If New Museum founder Marcia Tucker did not have them on her team, her enterprise wouldn’t have launched or lasted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William Powhida’s cartoon attacking the New Museum is terrific as a cartoon. As he points out in his blog, in case the audience is too dim to see the connection, it derives from the slashing wit of Ad Reinhardt, who terrorized reactionaries in the late 1940s. Cartoons are supposed to be unfair, one-sided and vehement. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}