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| Quinn's Planet, courtesy London Telegraph |
Jonathan Jones Joneses for Artistic Depth
In his 21 January review, Jonathan
Jones, arts and culture critic for London’s The Guardian Newspaper, dropped the gauntlet over popular British
artist Marc
Quinn’s giant baby sculpture, Planet,
and its installation in Singapore’s scenic Gardens by the Sea.
Jones’ criticism is direct rather than
rhetorical. Does art need to be
deep? Inaccessible? Clever?
Challenging? How is it that we
will choose to determine what is or is not considered art in a foundation-less
(stated positively) Postmodern global culture?
I do enjoy The Guardian’s often thoughtful criticism, and appreciate Jones’
perspective in this case, but too often, I also wonder if The Guardian is not merely the UK’s contra-cultural,
anti-establishment perspective – often appearing disagreeable merely to
disagree.
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| Quinn and Planet at Singapore installation, courtesy Artnews.com |
Indeed, there appears to be some disagreement with Jones’
perception. Artnews.com confidently judges, “Planet
is one of Marc Quinn’s most important works. The sculpture, which is a
depiction of the artist’s infant son, appears to float above the ground and is
a technical tour-de-force,” (Artnews, below).
I think that in consideration of today’s
cultural norms, Jones is being a bit hypercritical. Consider the fate and present veneration of The Pearl, formerly at the heart of
Manama, Bahrain.
