Reading 'Vortex of Silence', by German art historian and critic Doris von Drathen, is definitely refreshing. Criticizing the inadequacy of art history and aesthetic categories to approach and understand the artistic production, the book suggests that the works of art should be embraced as "entities of otherness". The reader is easily drawn into von Drathen's analysis of 24 artists, including Marina Abramovic, Jean-Pierre Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Ann Hamilton, Rebecca Horn, Anish Kapoor, Agnes Martin, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, and David Tremlett, with an emphasis on Aby Warburg's theory that rejects aestheticising art theories as "barren word-mongering." In short, the author argues that works of art should be read through lenses pertaining to larger existential and ethical questions.
Last Thursday, when I was wandering among Jasper Johns's flags, targets and Catenary series at “Jasper Johns: Gray” exhibition at the Met, the comments of the museum-goers that I overheard were only about the "background that looked like Rauschenberg" and "figures that recalled Willem de Kooning." Thinking of my own "gaze" and listening to aesthetic commentaries about the works, I stood mutely and smiled.
Although reading the book is not easy at all, the after taste is quite satisfying.
(Thanks, Melis.)
