Welcome to the second half of the semester! We will be following a slightly different class structure during the second half for a couple of reasons — we only have two chapters left in our text book, you have a couple larger assignments to accomplish, and it gets harder the closer we get to today’s art world for me to pick out artists that you have to know.
This means we need to start searching for material that covers even more contemporary artists and events, and that you will be required to do a little more research on your own to find the artists that fit your personal avenue of interest, and share them with the class.
First, the big assignments: Before the end of the semester, you will have to write a research paper, and make a trip to see see artwork in a gallery or museum. The week of unit 9 (November 4th through the 11th) you will be given a lighter course load to give you some time to run out and look at some real art. If this is going to be tough for you that week, then you may need to get out there sooner.
Besides reading chapter 10, we are starting the research paper this week (Due November 21st). I am giving you a sample paper to read, and more details on what is expected. In the discussion forum this week, you will introduce the artist you are going to write your paper on to the rest of the class. This means a lot of the work this week is on your own initiative. I have pulled a couple of the artists out of the chapter for you to know, but we don’t spend any time outside of the text on them.
I found Chapter 10 revealing the author as less than objective in his presentation of the Cultural Wars: 1980s. It seems the subject matter got the best of him. His descriptive political pointed adjectives taint his presentation of events during this time period.
Make that her presentation. It’s true, Erica Doss has a particular take that aligns closely with the progressive politics that dominated in the 1990s. That being said, you would be hard pressed to find any book on the arts of the 1980s that takes a non-partisan look at the neo-con agenda for American culture, because most people with any interest in creating or writing about contemporary art also believe there is some value in supporting the arts outside of the commercial marketplace.
For the other side, you’ll have to look to conservatives outside of the artworld like Pat Buchanan:
If you want to look at texts from both sides of the argument, check out this compilation of documents from the timeperiod: CULTURE WARS, Documents from the Recent Controversy in the Arts, edited by Richard Bolton, 1992