Description
Book SynopsisFeatures writings on contemporary art and culture by the author, a painter and feminist art theorist. Mixing theory and practice, the personal and the political, this book tackles questions about the place of feminism in art and political discourse, and the aesthetics and values of contemporary painting.
Trade Review“Mira Schor reminds us that some of the best, and most eye-opening, writing on art has always been made by artists themselves. The essays in
A Decade of Negative Thinking demolish countless widely held assumptions about contemporary art, and do so with a compelling blend of skepticism and passion.”—
Raphael Rubinstein, author of
Polychrome Profusion: Selected Art Criticism, 1990–2002“This collection of essays by one of the most engaging writers of contemporary art critically excavates and redefines the enduring questions in aesthetics and politics with extraordinary verve and urgency.”—
Gunalan Nadarajan, Vice Provost for Research, Maryland Institute College of Art
"An excellent new book. . . .” -- Holland Cotter * New York Times *
“Witty and lucid, showing that she’s a believer in art’s power, despite all the naysaying.” -- David O’Neill * Bookforum *
“Schor is both an artist and a writer, maybe the perfect person to consider in this search for uncorrupt, valuable criticism. In her excellent book
A Decade of Negative Thinking, she describes anonymous online commenting as the worst possible type of criticism, because it almost always falls into what she calls the ‘sucks/bullshit’ mode. (Ah, yup.) If you're looking for the opposite of that, pick up the book.” -- Jen Graves * The Stranger *
“Schor stakes out her own distinctive critical territory at the intersections of imagination and practice, concept and craft, anger and hope, humor and gravity. . . . It’s refreshing to accompany Schor as she look sat and opines on the state of culture. As she concludes in the book’s final essay, two qualities an artist can use to escape the trap of recipe art are ‘necessity , and having something to say with an investment in the formal means you use to say it.’ Schor has both.” -- Kathleen Rooney * Bitch *
“The essays collected in
A Decade of Negative Thinking present lucid, highly engaged and engaging reflections on the politics, rhetoric and political economy of artistic practice.” -- Matt Davies * Visual Studies *
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
Part 1:She Said, She Said: Feminist Debates, 1971–2009
The
ism that dare not speak its name
Anonymity as a Political Tactic: Art Blogs, Feminism, Writing, and Politics
Generation 2.5
Email to a Young Woman Artist
The
Womanhouse Films
Miss Elizabeth Bennett Goes to Feminist Boot Camp
Part 2:Painting
Some Notes on Women and Abstraction and a Curious Case History: Alice Neel as a Great Abstract Painter
Like a Veneer
Modest Painting
Blurring Richter
Off the Grid: Weather Conditions in Lower Manhattan, September 11, 2001 to October 2, 2001
Part 3:Trite Tropes
Trite Tropes, Clichés, or the Persistence of Styles
Recipe Art
Work and Play
New Tales of Scheherazade
Appendix: Work document:
Grey Notes
Bibliography
Index
