Dana Schutz & "Open Casket"

10/30

I was astonished today to see that the controversy surrounding Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket” has not abated. As I was going through Facebook postings it popped up, (I haven’t been able to find it since). At first I thought it was new article on ArtNet but then I checked and it was an article from July 28 but the postings were from a just few hours ago. 

In the postings the same arguments were made being when Schutz’s entry into the Whitney Biennial after the first outcry. My response to most of the allegations again the artist follow:

That Dana Schutz painted the picture to promote herself. Wrong. Schutz had already gained a reputation in the art world for her work and is well respected. She had already placed her name among the best of contemporary artists.

That she wished to profit from the painting. Wrong. According to the artist the painting was not for sale and never will be.

That ICA, Boston rewarded her for painting “Open Casket” which some claim is a violent artifact. Wrong. Dana Schutz’ show at the ICA was well in the works before the piece was created. What a “violent artifact” is I am not sure. I could not find a definition for violent artifact. An artifact has to have historical significance and other than “Open Casket” referring to a historic moment I don’t see it as an artifact.

Was the painting a misstep; perhaps.

The painting itself is clumsy and not up to Schutz’ standard


For you own part Schutz has always claimed that she painted “Open Casket” to show sympathy and empathy with Emmett Till’s mother and others that have lost children to violence. But her critics say she cannot understand African American pain and in fact no white person can. But if people keep slapping away hands that attempt offer understanding then the divide between black and white will be healed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Greatest Security Threat

11/16/17 You know what? Forget terrorists, Russia, mass shooters, Kim Jung-Il, ISIS, al Qaeda or any other group you wish to include that wishes to do the US harm, the ones threatening our way of life or perhaps the security of our country are Republicans.  Their huge giveaway to American oligarchs promises to add at least $1.5 trillion to the country’s debt. In order to get away with this they are calling it middle class tax cut but the middle class when all the facts and figures are considered a majority of us will end up paying more. Why? The GOP is proposing cutting the ACA mandate that all Americans have insurance. Also, every indication points to them wanting to make deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Can Social Security be next and if so the whole safety net could be in tatters. When the Obama proposed the ACA Republicans cried that there would be death panels, something long ago debunked, but the GOP has become a death panel, endangering the very things that a...
Read more

A New Word

11/15 An acquaintance and I were talking about the latest revelations and allegation of sexual harassment and realized that while we had a word for men abusing or hating women we didn’t know of a word for women abusing, harassing or hating men. Later yesterday I did some checking online and discovered there is a word. The opposite of misogyny is misandry. In its original meaning and form the word simply the hatred of other men, but today misandry means, according to dictionary.com , “hatred of males.”
Read more

What Some Get Wrong About Sexual Harassment

11/13 What some people get wrong about sexual harassment is this; we are all victims. Why? Because with each new revelation it gets harder to trust each other. Men whether they have done anything wrong or not get painted with the same broad generalization by some women.  Lets not forget that some women also harass men in the workplace. It may be not as common or reported as frequently as men harassing women but it does happen even if it is not considered sexual harassment it is based on gender. I know because I have personally experienced it. Let’s all take a deep breath realize there are bad people out there and they need to be dealt with but not everyone is bad.
Read more