This is Modern Art PDF
Preview This is Modern Art
/, W CU!/*Lloii $24.95 U.S.A. MODERN THIS ART IS MATTHEW COLL N G S Modern artisan intimidating subject. When itcomes up in ordinaryconversation, as itdoes moreand morethese days, the room tendstodivide intothose laying down the lawthunderouslyand those backing offtimidly. In fact, both ofthese responses tend to be based on fear; when itcomesto Modern art, most people don't know whatthey'retalking about. With this book, Matthew Collingssays that not knowing is okay, that Modern art's unknowability iswhat makes itworthwhile. The most importantquestions are the onesyou've probablyasked yourselfafterstepping intoa gallery: Whatis a genius? Whydowewantto be shocked byart?What happened to beautyand loveliness? Questions like these provide the starting pointfor each ofthe six chapters of This is ModernArt. Each one €/* becomes a journey, a tour around the world to art galleries and museums and artists' studios, and a trip — back and forth in time from the heroic early beginnings of Modern artatthe turn ofthe centuryto the media circus of Sensation, thefamous/infamous exhibition recently seen by record-breaking crowds on both sides oftheAtlantic. These rides are byturns smooth, surprising, and alarming, but they are always informative and entertaining. Why arethere so many all-white, emptycanvases throughout all periods of Modern art? When did jokes and ironyfirsttake hold in Modern art?Will future generations value the artoftodayas a vivid and moving expression of how life was really lived in the 1990s? Or will they scratch their heads and wonder howwe could have put up with this stuff? Is there reallya champagne called Ruinart?All ofthese questions are addressed in thiswonderfully readable book. Like his subject, Matthew Collings is unpredictable and unpatronizing. — Hecombines hard art historical information what really — happened with refreshingly candid personal reflections. The result is a book that is as enjoyable to read as it is enlightening. THIS IS MODERN ART or MODERN ART THIS IS MATTHEW COLLINGS Watson-GuptillPublications/NewYork First published inthe United States Library ofCongress Catalog Card in 2000 byWatson-Guptill Number:99-69934 Publications,a division of ISBN 0-8230-5362-8 BPI Communications,Inc., 1515 Broadway, NewYork, NY 10036 Typeset by Stefania Bonelli Set in Gill,Joanna and Garamond ©1999 Matthew Collings Printed in Italy by The moral right ofMatthew Collings PrinterTrento S.r.l. to be identified asthe authorof this work has been asserted in Manufactured in Italy accordancewith the Copyright, Designs and PatentsAct of1988. 1 2 3 4 5 6/05 04 03 02 01 00 Design and layout© Herman Lelie © Artists'biographies Melissa Larner All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or BR BR transmitted in anyform orby N6350 any means,electronic,mechanical, •C64 2000x photocopying,recording,or otherwise,withoutthe prior permission ofboth the copyright ownerandthe above publisher ofthis book. Every effort has been madetotrace all copyright holders but ifany have been inadvertentlyoverlookedthe publishers will be pleasedto make Frontispiece:Tracey Emm on a boat the necessarycredits atthe first in Norwaywith Matthew Collings, opportunity. 1998 Contents Introduction 7 Chapter One am a Genius I 21 Chapter Two Shock, Horror 63 ChapterThree Lovely Lovely 101 Chapter Four Nothing Matters 141 Chapter Five Hollow Laughter 183 Chapter Six The Shock of the Now 223 Picture Credits 264 Acknowledgements 268 Index 269 INTRODUCTION 8 ThisisModernArt GaryHume1999 Start here The sun was shiningover Hoxton Square in London's East End.The skywas blue. The square was leafy.The buildings were picturesque.The air was buzzing with creativityand irony.Everybodywasanartist.Iwalkedpastthe LuxCinema,the LEA gallery, and Rongwrong,the restaurant named afterthe title ofa Dada pamphlet from 1928, published by Marcel Duchamp, on my way to the north-east corner where Gary Hume's studio isto lookat some ofhis paintings. I was goingto see ifthere was one that could go on the cover ofthis book - something that said Modern art but in a new way. But not so new that it didn't have any dignity or looked like it had just come out ofnowhere and wasn't connected to anything, even though that's the main principle of Modern art, it's sometimes thought. It mustbeauto-genetic,bornoutofitsownheavingsandnotcomeoutofthefrothy waves ofthe sea ofjoy thatthe art ofthe past swims around in, like schools of rainbow fish.This was the rambling course ofmy thoughts as I was smiling and saying Hello and Gary Hume was asking me how I wanted my coffee and telling me he'd given up smoking.'What a problem it is',he was saying,'tothink up new waystoarrangethe bodyand limbswhenyou'reoutwith a lotofpeopleandyou suddenly realize there isn't a smoking ritual to unconsciously fall into.' 'White, please!' was saying. I Magnolia Theabstractsublime-hospital doors;hispaintingsofthe 80sjoinedthem up into an expression ofthe age.They were big,stark,reflective surfaces ofshop-bought
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