Mick Hartley

From their latest exhibition The Long Now:

From artist Rafael Gómezbarros, addressing “the fragility of the human condition, and the history of violence in his native Colombia”. Ah yes. Of course.

The paintings – the artworks – are fine. It’s a good exhibition. I enjoyed it. And we can shrug and move on when we’re confronted with the familiar over-blown art-speak: “Learning from indigenous knowledge systems and quantum physics, she engages with the idea of matter as alive and responsive. In doing so, Anderson maintains her relationship with the earth in the context of the Technocene”. Jolly good. It’s fifty years now (!) since Tom Wolfe’s “The Painted Word” We’re used to it.

The real stars of the show, though….the gallery intros.

Feel the power of that language. They read so well, these little lectures. It seems like something is being laid out here for us to comprehend: something important and profound. But….what, really? Would anyone notice if these pearls of art wisdom were swapped around between galleries? Or paragraphs, phrases, were exchanged?

I don’t think so. It’s generic.pabulum – albeit high-class generic pabulum.

Do they help, these pronouncements? Are we enlightened? Or do they perhaps just make us feel slightly smaller, as we look at these works of art, and can’t quite grasp all the powerful currents and narratives and dialogues that we’re told are so central to our appreciation….