"The critic will not consent to be the slave of his own opinions. The critic treats the work of art simply as a starting-point for a new creation. ...for creation limits, while contemplation widens, the vision."
Oscar Wilde, THE CRITIC AS ARTIST: WITH SOME REMARKS UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING NOTHING
The quote came to my attention via a recent post-in-cartoon-form on Hyperallergic: What Should Art Criticism Do. The post offers a few more options; click through to check it out.
The Wilde quote reminds me of Foucault's essay This is Not a Pipe and of James E Porter's excellent This Is Not A Review of Foucault's This Is Not A Pipe.
And what about the poor pipe, our original referent? Or rather Magritte's referent? It was simply an excuse, all along, for discourse. Discourse about discourse. Discourse begets discourse. We are nicely, cozily ensconced in critical inquiry right now-and Magritte's painting is to blame. Or rather something prior to his painting is to blame. Where does all this inquiry lead? To more critical inquiry, I imagine.
I was going to write that whether or not we call it art criticism is another matter, but it seems more to the point to call such an undertaking critical inquiry.
This also calls to mind my own PROPOSITION 131004-01:
ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY THE ARTIST SHALL BE CONSIDERED AS ART IF THE ARTIST DEEMS IT SO. CONSIDERATION OF UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES, EPHEMERA, PRODUCTION, & C SHALL BE CONSIDERED AS THE CREATIVE ACTIVITIES OF THE CONSIDERING PARTY, WHO BY VIRTUE OF HIS CONSIDERATION IS CONSIDERED, WHILE CONSIDERING, AN APPROPRIATING ARTIST.
Porter's article is published in Rhetoric Review, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Jan., 1986), pp. 210-219. The quotation is from page 217. Available online via http://www.jstor.org/stable/466040.
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