FEAR OF FORM

“Sophisticated gallery-goers are now armored gallery-goers, afraid of trusting their instincts. Worse yet, they are afraid of their conflicting instincts–of their wish for some clarity of form, and then for something else. Yet what is wrong with asking artists for layers, for ambiguities? If we are afraid to ask artists for anything much, this may be because we are worried about getting in too deep, about being forced to revise our ideas. By now there is an unwillingness to think about underlying issues – about factors that run through all art. This unwillingness casts a pall over gallery-going.” – The New Republic