Good Representation
The philosophical conception of art as a domain of *exceptional*, *problematic* freedom has found itself in tension with the growing contemporary demand for “good representation” and its new (but not altogether unrelated) sense of “the problematic.” The normative concept of good representation enjoy...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Index Journal
2020-03-01
|
| Series: | Index Journal |
| Online Access: | https://index-journal.org/issues/identity/good-representation-by-ella-cattach-and-elliot-yates |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850214092854263808 |
|---|---|
| author | Ella Cattach Elliot Yates |
| author_facet | Ella Cattach Elliot Yates |
| author_sort | Ella Cattach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The philosophical conception of art as a domain of *exceptional*, *problematic* freedom has found itself in tension with the growing contemporary demand for “good representation” and its new (but not altogether unrelated) sense of “the problematic.” The normative concept of good representation enjoys a largely unquestioned and untheorised dominance in a mainstream culture increasingly inflected by liberal social justice discourses—a dominance that has also diffused into the field of contemporary art. In this paper, we consider the problematics of the problematic with respect to art’s fundamental disobedience: its inability to conform to the schematic prescriptions and parameters of good representation. The unique bind of the contemporary artist, we find, is to make work that is at once aesthetically problematic and socially unproblematic—exceeding the existing parameters of representation while being contained by them.
Via a critique of the essentially kitsch, commodified character of good representation and its auxiliary media chatter, and through close readings of the overlap, interplay and interference of both senses of the problematic in the work of the late American artist Mike Kelley and contemporary Australian artist Matthew Griffin, we make the case that the imperative for good representation is an obstacle art must wrangle in order to fulfil its problematic vocation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-33f9001d8a834175bc497f1d2b43cccc |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2652-4740 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | Index Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Index Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-33f9001d8a834175bc497f1d2b43cccc2025-08-20T02:08:59ZengIndex JournalIndex Journal2652-47402020-03-0110.38030/index-journal.2020.1.2Good RepresentationElla CattachElliot YatesThe philosophical conception of art as a domain of *exceptional*, *problematic* freedom has found itself in tension with the growing contemporary demand for “good representation” and its new (but not altogether unrelated) sense of “the problematic.” The normative concept of good representation enjoys a largely unquestioned and untheorised dominance in a mainstream culture increasingly inflected by liberal social justice discourses—a dominance that has also diffused into the field of contemporary art. In this paper, we consider the problematics of the problematic with respect to art’s fundamental disobedience: its inability to conform to the schematic prescriptions and parameters of good representation. The unique bind of the contemporary artist, we find, is to make work that is at once aesthetically problematic and socially unproblematic—exceeding the existing parameters of representation while being contained by them. Via a critique of the essentially kitsch, commodified character of good representation and its auxiliary media chatter, and through close readings of the overlap, interplay and interference of both senses of the problematic in the work of the late American artist Mike Kelley and contemporary Australian artist Matthew Griffin, we make the case that the imperative for good representation is an obstacle art must wrangle in order to fulfil its problematic vocation.https://index-journal.org/issues/identity/good-representation-by-ella-cattach-and-elliot-yates |
| spellingShingle | Ella Cattach Elliot Yates Good Representation Index Journal |
| title | Good Representation |
| title_full | Good Representation |
| title_fullStr | Good Representation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Good Representation |
| title_short | Good Representation |
| title_sort | good representation |
| url | https://index-journal.org/issues/identity/good-representation-by-ella-cattach-and-elliot-yates |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ellacattach goodrepresentation AT elliotyates goodrepresentation |