Here's a great article from the Huffington Post, written by Mat Gleason, an art critic. I'm posting this here because it is enlightening to hear what this man says about his excursion to Las Vegas where he did the jurying, looks like it was on a monitor (!), and his take on what should and should not be in an art show:
I was invited to jury the 23rd annual juried show for the Contemporary Art Center in Las Vegas. Filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson has made what I believe to be the first documentary of jurying an exhibit of contemporary art. He accompanied me on the journeys involved -- first, the arduous task of reviewing the submissions. Six hundred fourteen artworks were submitted for my perusal, and then to celebrate the exhibit in Sin City itself.
Of course, it is well written, but the documentary video of his trip is also interesting. He talks about the pieces he has chosen, specifically saying he will not choose anything with "glamour"... what does he choose?
...I saw great pictures that did not conform to the art magazine flavor of the month but were epic combinations of talent and imagination nonetheless. I had to go rogue and reward originality and independence over pleasant half-step improvements on mainstream art world art.
He was overwhelmed with over 600 images. Let's invite this guy to an art fair jury!
Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mat-gleason/artist-juried-shows-winne_b_1411692.html
Comments
I just watched as much of the documentary as I could. I will never be juried into any show this guy is in charge of. "I want art to be bad and nasty and funked out and spat upon", wanting art to have a "stigma", and people's first reaction to be "that's awful". I would not want to be considered a great artist if these are the guidelines for greatness. And if he moans this much about having to wade thru 614 images, he better stay away from art fair juries. His comment about his biggest fear being an artist he has raved about sneaking a painting in and he rejects it tells me his ego shines brighter than his cherry koolaide hair. I guess I'm too much of a country bumpkin and don't understand big city art tastes.