slavs and tartars, 2011 sharjah biennale
Chris Martin
Garden at 11 Munn St., 2008–2009. Oil on canvas, 52 1/8 x 42 1/4 in
The Proposal by Michael Cheval, 2007. Oil on canvas, 30 x 18 inches.
As [British anthropologist Gregory Bateson] saw it then, the depiction of grand ideals was not necessary to make art that might have a positive influence; on the other hand, an intimate knowledge of the local gave author and audience a chance for a more intense experience of connections, complications, and mysteries. International recognition of this or that hugely superior work of art was not important, nor was a discussion of its supposed ideas; what counted, on the contrary, was a frequent, ongoing experience of art, something that might correct our normally reductive and rapacious ways of thinking.