The Essential New Art Examiner

Speakeasy

E d P as c hke Speakeasy February 1982 Each month the New Art Examiner will invite a well-known, or not-so-well-known, art world personality to write a “Speakeasy” essay on a topic of interest—whatever it may be. New York Uber Alles: Pluralism. The critics and curators have all but buried it. Before laying it to rest consider: in its diversity and lack of distinction, it may have been the ultimate metaphor for the seventies. Its multiplicity was an extension of the ME generation—of divergent interest groups all shouting for equal rights—of individual morality demanding “get down,” “do your own thing,” and “I need my own space.” It was a personification in paint, plastic, plaster and, yes, “works on paper ,” of non-judgmental, non-hierarchical sub-cultures proclaiming “I’m O.K.—you’re O.K.”—and “anything I call art is art.” Literary, narrative, collage, mixed media—it was the essence of a society stuffing satin shirts in denim pants and pay as you go. How do you define pay? What is the value of anything . . . What is someone willing to pay for it? What is all this business about justice and fair play? There is always force (of course). Manhattan has 20 blocks to the mile. New Yorkers seem to spend the better part of their time in an area of maybe 40 or 50 blocks. To them the “territory” sounds impressive, but it’s only 2 ½ miles, a distance any nonNew Yorker travels for even the most mundane, self-supporting reasons. Granted, there’s a lot compacted on the bedrock of the island—one big experience is going on in that compressed mass of humanity. It is, in 80   T h e E s s e n t i a l N ew A rt E xaminer a sense, a city full of semifinalists. A marketplace in which peddlers descend to hawk their aesthetic and practical wares. But how are the natives responding? Do they see more of life? Or do they shut themselves off—sensory overload—and become provincial and smug. Historical tunnel-vision as concept. How would Leonardo feel about his Mona Lisa as a billboard—wearing Koss stereo headphones? We live in an era of embryonic, computerized lifestyles . . . pathetically domesticated and shriveled instincts. Regeneration is a universal phenomenon. To eliminate from one’s life the natural processes in the name of seriousness is to indulge in self-deception. Where have all the people gone? Electronic shadows of their former selves watching video screens, ignoring the right of refusal. Or perhaps they are driving up in their new Mercedes’ and BMW’s to buy German Expressionist paintings. Do the ladies clutch their Gucci’s as they strut in Claude (not Joe) Montana and shell out for the newest European cultural imports? Perception, or what we experience through our sensory apparatus, is being affected by the rapid acceleration of media-related technology. Our view of the world is changing as the “global-environment” expands through media accessibility and the information reservoir gets deeper. My belief is that these elements (good or bad) have woven their way into the collective fabric of our lives. I also believe that any artist always works within the context or conditions that are indigenous to his or her own time and, in doing so, reflects the energy, temperament and attitudes of that climate. Paint may seem like an outmoded medium but the human imagination is endless. ...