{"id":1539,"date":"2010-02-11T14:04:28","date_gmt":"2010-02-11T22:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/02\/susanna_bluhm_-_the_impossibil\/"},"modified":"2010-02-11T14:04:28","modified_gmt":"2010-02-11T22:04:28","slug":"susanna_bluhm_-_the_impossibil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/02\/susanna_bluhm_-_the_impossibil.html","title":{"rendered":"Susanna Bluhm – the impossibility of no"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bluhm<\/a>, in response to an
\nitem in this
\npost<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\n
<\/blockquote>\n
\n

The only problem
\nwith us blogging artists is
\nthat we can’t really criticize anything. We can’t criticize each other,
\nthe galleries, the critics. We’re dependent on this web of connections
\nand can’t afford to burn bridges. I suppose it’s better for one’s own
\nwell-being anyway to focus on the positives, on what we do like; but at
\nthe same time, thoughtful criticism makes an art community better. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Everybody’s dependent on a web of connections. I’d say
\nthose connections are not worth having if they break under the strain of
\nan honest but negative reaction, but I’m a critic. Critics put their
\nconnections to the test on a regular basis. Those seeking safe haven
\nhave been known to associate themselves with one group of artists,
\nsnubbing all others. But even if each of the chosen continues to dazzle,
\nthe critics don’t. They become boosters and not critics at all. A
\ncritic has to be open to the possibility of failure, including her own.
\nIf her left hand offends, she doesn’t have to cut it off but she does
\nhave to deal with it.<\/p>\n

Partly because Dave Hickey and Christopher
\nKnight believe that non-major metropolises do not offer enough room for
\nconflict, they think art can’t thrive there. <\/p>\n

Knight:<\/p>\n

In
\nan October lecture
\nat the Smithsonian, critic Dave Hickey noted that, in the Internet’s
\nvast territory, niches are the equivalent of villages. And art does
\npoorly in the homogenized, provincial ether of a village.
\nTo thrive art needs cities, where cosmopolitan diversity, conflict and
\nsheer accident are the norm. (more<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There
\nare other, more genial models for significant arts journalism. Calvin
\nTomkins<\/a>, for one. An art critic once told him that if he weren’t willing to shoot, he needed to get off the firing range. If
\nthe art world were nothing but a firing range, nobody would thrive
\nthere.<\/p>\n

Back to Bluhm.

I’d Never Seen Your Kind Before,
\nYour Every Word Was A Poem<\/i>
\n26″ x 40″, Mixed media on paper, 2007<\/p>\n

\"susannabluhmblue.jpg\"She is one of ten new
\nartists recently selected to join the Seattle art collective known as Soil<\/a>. Story on Joey Veltkamp’s Best
\nOf<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bluhm, in response to an item in this post: The only problem with us blogging artists is that we can’t really criticize anything. We can’t criticize each other, the galleries, the critics. We’re dependent on this web of connections and can’t afford to burn bridges. I suppose it’s better for one’s own well-being anyway to […]<\/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-1539","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\/1539","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=1539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}