Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Visual Arts / review An open letter to Harrison Keys
Posted by Jessica Blankenship on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Harrison Keys...shit, man. Why you gotta play with my heart like this? I went to the opening for your show Pressure Luck at Get This! Gallery last Saturday, all atwitter with anticipation—I’ve much enjoyed most of what I’ve seen you do in the past, and I was hungry for more. This was going to be a juicy feast of tasty art goodness, I just knew it. I even skipped dinner. And then you go and leave me feeling empty.
- so have more interesting things.
At first, I thought I was pissed because a lot of the pieces appear to invoke the same tired old quarter-life crisis, bittersweet-disappointment-spiked-with-leftover-adolescent-idealism that hipsters have been employing in art for a painfully long time. Which is fine, I guess—we all get amnesty for going through a phase of expressing those feelings, either through bad poetry, bad music, or bad art. It just usually occurs during the days of tidal teenage hormones and biblical acne. But then I realized that it only appears that this is what’s happening. In truth, there’s not damn near enough emotion to even pull that off. After some of the killer shit I’ve seen from you, Harry, I wasn’t expecting these good-looking but disconnected missives of superficiality.
- I'm feelin' the ambiguity too.
If the technique was going to be (can I say this?) simple, and the design sparse, then the content should have brought the bang. Pared-down paintings of powerful subjects are fantastic. But I wasn’t even demanding power; I would have settled happily for something particularly insightful or clever. And as I made my way from piece to piece, looking for connection, starving for a bit of emotional evocation, I didn’t find it.
- no, i am not.
Comments (2)
Showing 1-2 of 2
this letter is a bit unfair and undeserved. you never spoke with the artist about this work. yet somehow you expect to decode every piece on your thoughts alone and sum up an artist on your assumptions. you admit to everyone you expected to much, but continue rambling about how it didnt please you.
why not appreciate it for what it is. his work does not claim to be more or less.
like
dislike
I don't claim that my opinion is any more or any less than that, so why not take it as such?
You're mistaken to say that I make broad conclusions about Mr. Keys as an artist. In fact, I make a point of saying that I enjoy other work he does and consider this to NOT be indicative of him as an artist. I would actually never form a complete judgment about someone based solely on one instance.
I'm getting a kick out of the artist and his friends' focus on the fact that I didn't speak to him. That was deliberate. Not sneaky or cowardly (anyone who knows me or works with me knows I am certainly not those things), but rather a calculated decision to review the work from the viewers' perspective. Many critical writers will do this. Some won't even read an artist statement because what they (and I, in this case) are trying to do is see how the work stands on its own, how it communicates with a viewer--the minute you talk to the artist, his or her perspective and intentions start coloring your viewing experience. you become immediately and irrevocably biased to their point of view. and that's a REPORT, or and interview, or a guided tour of the work--not a critical review.
I respect that you disagree with my opinion, but hey, that's all a review is: one person's opinion. Have different thoughts? Had a different personal experience with the work? Write a review. I hope this at least shed some light on the process.
cheers-
jess
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