Observing, understanding, and engaging the context in which
they work is a critical part of an artist’s growth. Given the current
situation, where galleries around they world are changing
formats, now is a good time to rethink how we view exhibitions.
More than ever, we most hone our skill for viewing art in
documentation and/or digital formats, after all, most of the art we
will see in our lifetime will probably be in documentation form.
Above: Kyle Orlando’s work at Shrine Gallery
Pick one of the follow two outlets and write a one-page review
following the prompts below:
Chose documentation from any exhibition on Contemporary Art
Daily (https://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/。). Posting
currently on-view show show every day, Contemporary Art Daily
has thousands of exhibitions from all over the world in high
resolution. Try searching for a particular artist you like and see if
they are on there.
Or look at the following groups shows from Shrine Gallery
(https://www.shrine.nyc/group-show) in New York. During the
Pandemic, Shrine disseminated images of their gallery empty
and invited any artist to superimpose their work onto the space
to create digital exhibitions.
First ask yourself the questions key to any critical writing about
art:
What is it? Or what does it look like?
What might it mean?
What does it contribute to the world at large?
Then ask yourself questions related to the current moment:
How does viewing the art via documentation help you
understand the show or not?
How does the format speak to our current context?
What was your experience like as a viewer at home?