Philip Guston, The Studio, 1969, Oil on canvas. Image © The Estate of Philip Guston
Christopher Blay, Christina Rees, and Brandon Zech talk about what the recent postponement of a show of works by Philip Guston says about museums and culture today.
“If museums continue their history of being traditionally white spaces, then when you put a painting of the KKK in them, it will be reinforcing that white space. If you have the diversity of a great multitude of art and artists in those spaces, then they become true places for dialogue and learning.”
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Related Reading:
—Glasstire: “Cowardly and Patronizing”: Responses to Postponement of Philip Guston Retrospective
—ARTnews: Philip Guston’s KKK Paintings: Why an Abstract Painter Returned to Figuration to Confront Racism
—Brooklyn Rail: Open Letter: On Philip Guston Now
—Artnet News: The Gray Market: Why the Delay of ‘Philip Guston Now’ Will Backfire on the Entire Culture Sector (and Other Insights)
—NY Times: The Philip Guston Show Should Be Reinstated
—NY Times: Why Philip Guston Can Still Provoke Such Furor, and Passion
—The New Yorker: Philip Guston and the Boundaries of Art Culture
—Glasstire: What Guston Means to Me
—Artnet News: The Strongest Reactions to the Philip Guston Show’s Postponement Miss Two Key Points. Here’s What They Are—and Why They Matter
—Vulture: 4 Museums Decided This Work Shouldn’t Be Shown. They’re Both Right and Wrong.
—The Nation: Don’t Hide the Art of Philip Guston
—Frieze: Artists Speak against the Postponement of ‘Philip Guston Now’
—Artnet News: Nicole Eisenman, Martin Puryear, and 100 Other Artists and Intellectuals Call on Museums to Reinstate the Postponed Philip Guston Retrospective
—ARTnews: Controversial Philip Guston Show Postponement Met with Shock and Anger from Art Community
—Texas Monthly: A Museum Show in Houston Is Shelved, and the Texas Art Community Cries Foul
—The Washington Post: The Philip Guston controversy is turning artists against the National Gallery
—ArtLyst: Philip Guston Postponed: Curator David Anfam Speaks Out
—The Art Newspaper: Directors of Tate and the National Gallery of Art defend controversial decision to delay Philip Guston show
—Hyperallergic: National Gallery of Art Director Discusses the Decision to Delay the Philip Guston Exhibition
—Artnet News: Why Did the National Gallery Postpone Its Guston Show? The Museum’s Director Says the Public Doesn’t Need a ‘White Artist to Explain Racism’ Right Now
—The Art Newspaper: What does the Philip Guston delay tell us about museums and race?
—The Cornell Daily Sun: Museum Culpability & Why Philip Guston Can Wait
—Artnet News: Artist Vincent Valdez Made a Painting So Provocative This Texas Museum Waited a Year to Unveil It. Now It’s a National Sensation.
—The Guardian: How a painting of the Ku Klux Klan is causing a stir in Texas
—NY Times: An All-American Family Portrait, in White
2 comments
Great podcast! Articulate dialogue and meaningful!!!
What Christopher said ….that there IS just some stuff that you HAVE to make. I can’t remember his exact words ….but the gist was that once artists start trying to shape their work to fit the school/public/critics whatever then it’s not art anymore. Great discussion and thanks for the reading list too!