Joshua Cardoso Drawings
Tuesday January 3, 2006
Contemporary artists often sound like they'd be better off with a degree in Philosophy than Fine Art. Joshua Cardoso's press release from the Thomas Erben Gallery states that "His perspective reflects elements of biological psychology, the new physics, the post-structuralist philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari..." and goes on - "He is currently curating a group show at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Redhead Gallery concerning the psychology of the American, bourgeois male."
I find myself wondering if the BFA now includes compulsory units of Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy instead of the painting, drawing and sculpture that I studied at university.
That said, Cardoso's drawings are lovely things - I long to see them 'in the flesh'. These works are certainly analytical, but I think that the critic's and curator's desire to wrap contemporary art in impenetrable layers of text does the lyrical, sensitive drawings a disservice. See them at Thomas Erben until January 21. Artinfo's Joao Ribas on Joshua Cardoso.
I find myself wondering if the BFA now includes compulsory units of Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy instead of the painting, drawing and sculpture that I studied at university.
That said, Cardoso's drawings are lovely things - I long to see them 'in the flesh'. These works are certainly analytical, but I think that the critic's and curator's desire to wrap contemporary art in impenetrable layers of text does the lyrical, sensitive drawings a disservice. See them at Thomas Erben until January 21. Artinfo's Joao Ribas on Joshua Cardoso.
Comments
Criticizing an artist’s interest in content outside of traditional disciplinary boundaries is almost as absurd as trying to establish the primacy of an artwork’s formal qualities without having seen the work in person.
It isn’t the artist’s interests that trouble me, Mark, so much as the artspeak that often clouds the work. However, your point about the primacy of the visual is a valid one. Perhaps the drawings are simply by-products of a thought process.
To be honest, much of the artwork that I’ve seen – and in person, visiting shows such as the Sydney Biennale – that purports to be ‘outside traditional boundaries’ is lacking in content and intellectual rigour. I’m no art critic, and I don’t want to get into a debate that goes beyond my critical abilities. But just as a painter must know how to paint, a philosopher must know the rudiments of philosophical theory, a social commentator must understand social science… I get frustrated with half-baked theory and hackneyed social commentary. Which is not to say that Cardoso’s work is either of those.
Unfortunately, if I were to only ever consider the formal qualities of artwork seen in person, I’d miss out on experiencing a great deal of art. Reproduction is a very poor second, I’ll admit, but sometimes it is all we have.