Is Vandalism the New Art Criticism?

By pulling her pants down and defacing Clyfford Still’s painting 1957-J No. 2 (PH-401) (shown above, from 1957) last week at The Clyfford Still Museum, Carmen Lucette Tisch stumbled drunkenly into the annals of art vandals and, however misguidedly, art critics. Experts estimate that Tisch’s tush rub against (along with some angry punches at) the abstract painting worth between $30 and $40 million caused $10,000 worth of damage. An officer quoted in The Denver Post stated that he could see scratches and other damage to the surface of Still’s painting. Tisch also apparently attempted to urinate on the painting but, fortunately, had poor aim. What Tisch’s aims in attacking the painting, however, seem clear by her methods—to piss on the past and moon masterpieces eclipsing the art of the present. This may be only an isolated case, but could it be a sign of a new trend? Is vandalism the new art criticism? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Is Vandalism the New Art Criticism?"

[Image: Clyfford Still. 1957-J No. 2 (PH-401), 1957. Oil on canvas, 113 x 155 in. Clyfford Still Museum Collection. © Clyfford Still Estate. Photo: Peter Harholdt.]

[Many thanks to The Clyfford Still Museum for providing me with the image above.]

Can a Museum Rewrite Art History?

Ask me to build a Mount Rushmore of Abstract Expressionism, and I’ll put the faces of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman up there. From Hollywood movies to MoMA retrospectives to award-winning dramas, those figures stand in the popular imagination as the first rank of their generation. A newly opened museum hopes to carve a niche for another face in that pantheon—Clyfford Still. The Clyfford Still Museum, which opened on November 18^th in Denver, Colorado, exists specifically to push Still over the top and undo decades of neglect of his art. The story behind that neglect—a self-imposed isolation—is also the story behind this hoped-for resurrection. Can The Clyfford Still Museum rewrite half a century of American art history? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Can a Museum Rewrite Art History?"

[Image: Clyfford Still. 1957-J No. 2 (PH-401), 1957. Oil on canvas, 113 x 155 in. Clyfford Still Museum Collection. © Clyfford Still Estate. Photo: Peter Harholdt.]

[Many thanks to The Clyfford Still Museum for providing me with the image above and other press materials related to their grand opening.]