Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

artist and work serve as the most visible symbols of everything that

is wrong with contemporary American society. Whether or not this

is true, Koons’s prominence in the art world indicates that he, like

Warhol before him, has developed an acute understanding of the dy-

namics of consumer culture.

ROBERT ARNESONDuring his career,Robert Arneson

(1930–1992) developed a body of work of predominantly figural ce-

ramic sculpture, often satirical or amusing and sometimes biting. In

1981 the influential New York Timesart critic Hilton Kramer (b. 1928)

published a review of an exhibition that included a scathing assess-

ment of the artist’s work. Arneson, who spent his life in a small town

north of San Francisco, created California Artist (FIG. 36-52) as a di-

rect response to Kramer, particularly to the critic’s derogatory com-

ments on the provincialism of California art. This ceramic sculpture, a

half-length self-portrait, incorporates all of the stereotypes Kramer

perpetuated. The artist placed the top half of his likeness on a pedestal

littered with beer bottles, cigarette butts, and marijuana plants. Arne-

son appears clad only in a denim jacket and sunglasses, looking very

defiant with his arms crossed. Of course, by creating an artwork that

responded directly to Kramer’s comments, Arneson validated the im-

portance of art critics in the contemporary art world.

MARK TANSEYThis kind of interaction between artists and

critics also underscores the self-consciousness on the part of con-

temporary artists about their place in the continuum of art history.

For many postmodern artists, referencing the past is much more

than incorporating elements from earlier works and styles in their

own art. It involves a critique of or commentary on fundamental art

historical premises. In short, their art is about making art.

In his humorous A Short History of Modernist Painting (FIG.

36-53), American artist Mark Tansey(b. 1949) provides viewers

with a tongue-in-cheek summary of the various approaches to

painting artists have embraced over the years. Tansey presents a se-

quence of three images, each visualizing a way of looking at art. At

the far left, a glass window encapsulates the Renaissance ideal of

viewing art as though one were looking through a window. In the

36-52Robert

Arneson,Califor-

nia Artist,1982.

Glazed stoneware,

5  81 – 4  2  3 –^12 

1  8 –^14 . San Francisco

Museum of Modern

Art, San Francisco

(gift of the Modern

Art Council). Art

© Estate of Robert

Arneson/Licensed

by VAGA, New York.

Underscoring the

importance of art

critics in the con-

temporary art world,

Arneson produced

this self-portrait

incorporating all

the stereotypes a

New York Times

critic attributed to

California artists.

36-53Mark Tansey,A Short History of Modernist Painting,1982. Oil on canvas, three panels, each 4 10  3  4 . Courtesy

Gagosian Gallery, New York.

Tansey’s tripartite history of painting includes the Renaissance window onto the world, the modernist insistence on a painting as a

flat surface, and postmodern artists’ reflections on their place in art history.

Painting and Sculpture since 1970 1001

1 ft.

1 ft.