December 14, 2004
I like Artforum now. It's come a long way towards, well, making sense in English, after a long reign of terror expressed in deconstructionist-era word choices. I actually like their year-end issue. (And I've taken (tiny) bits of their money and would happily do so again.)
But. Every once in a while, I just can't tell if they're fucking with me or not. Former Artforum editor Jack Bankowsky, writing in their year-in-review issue on the lifestyle of Los Super Elegantes: "Talk about a surprise vantage on the touchy elisions of imperialist modernism!"
Uh, okay! I totally will! And, from curator Thelma Golden -- a favorite target of Modern Art Notes -- there's this doozy: "Here, [Malik] Gaines brilliantly navigates the inside/outside, mainstream/margin politics that still haunt discussions of cultural specificity." Apart from this, much of Ms. Golden's writing is totally intelligible and thoughtful. There was some other line in the mag that made me howl, but I can't find it in the sea of words now.
Also in the issue: Dennis Cooper and I have the same favorite album of the year (Destroyer, Your Blues, and that upsets me a little, but I'll get over it.
