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"Out Today: Karin Bubas Q&A and East End Gallery Hop"

4 Comments -

1 – 4 of 4
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They are better than her watercolours of Dynasty fame but she really isn't too far off from employing bubblegum in her product.

August 16, 2009 at 11:30 AM

Blogger Leah Sandals said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for your comment...

I'm ambivalent about the bubblegum content... as with a lot of pop culture stuff, you kind of have to go, if it's so bubblegum (ie. irrelevant) why does it strike such a chord?

I appreciate it when art can smartly address those things which compel us (sometimes by the millions or billions) in the non-art sphere--when it doesn't keep itself to wondering "What Would Donald Judd [or Dan Graham, or Matthew Barney, or Cindy Sherman] Do?" -- but rather address experiences and icons in both felt and manufactured life.

August 18, 2009 at 10:26 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Leah,

The bubblegum I was referring to as a medium not as a label for kitsch. Overall, it appears that the time she did the Dynasty work up to the Hills work, I have a strange feeling that the artist was seeking the immediacy or attention that her "back to the lens" photographs did not illicit. It just looked like a crutch. Sort of like the trend when older artists tend to piggyback on some fabled classical work - The Illyad, the Divine Comedy, Moby Dick, any opera, etc... ( By the way, this is no way disparaging the canon it just seems so easy to prop up the context without regarding the flaw in the actual artist's work, as these stories, like all great stories, are for all time immortal.)
Again, it is better work and skill on her part but I can't help feeling that she is not too many steps away from imploying bubblegum than pastels.
To your follow up comment I think that it is perfectly fine to address any matter, there is only a non-art sphere and an art sphere for a tiny fraction that assumes there is. As for the millions and billions we should all be too busy living life to consider such.

August 18, 2009 at 12:44 PM

Blogger Leah Sandals said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for clarifying...

I can see how this work could push negative buttons for people. And on reflection I don't think, of course, that every work on pop culture is totally great. The work has to be strong as well as contain strong subject matter. I didn't mention that before, and I can agree with you on that point.

Sadly, I haven't seen these in person for full evaluation, but I like them so far in reproduction. Could very well be the case because I, like the artist, do like to watch this program on occasion... I'll admit it! : - )

As you can tell, though, I do tire of the artworld canon at times, or what I think of as same. That's likely where my response was coming from.

August 19, 2009 at 11:14 PM

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