I D E A S
It’s a m yth ical idea that h istory
doesn ’t back up. B ern in i w ou ld
m ake a m odel, and his studio
w o u ld carve it in stone. F in elli,
his m ost fam ous student, quit,
because he felt he w a sn ’t get-
tin g enough credit. W h e n
he started his o w n practice,
people didn’t th in k he had an y-
th in g to say. H e w as probably
the best ston ecarver in the
w orld at the tim e, but his art-
istry w as in the m anufacture;
he didn’t have the ideas that
B ern in i had.
T o u ch is im portant if it’s
im portant to you - but w e
shouldn’t fetish ize it. T h a t’s
w h e re the danger steps in,
w h e re it becom es easy to say,
“ W e ll, those craftsp eop le are
ju st fetish izin g the object-ness,
and th ey don’t have ideas.”
W e ll, th en, w h e re do craft
artists — people w h o do both —
fit in?
I th in k e v e ry artist needs
to m ake the w o rk that th ey
w a n t to m ake. I f y o u ’re based
in the hand, as it w e re , in
term s o f m akin g, th at’s fine.
T h a t’s a p erfectly valid w a y
to m ake w o rk .
T h e dialogue w ith in the
art w o rld , th ou gh , is m ore on
the con ceptual level - and
there are a m illion kids w h o
graduate from art school e v ery
year. A n d th e y ’re out there
k n o ck in g on the doors o f the
art w orld . So if y o u ’re goin g to
m ake it y o u r w o rk to be w ith in
the w o rk th a t’s traditionally
seen as craft, y o u can ’t e x p e ct
the art w o rld w ill com e and
find yo u . I f y o u ’re then u n h ap -
p y about that, you have to find
the language th at’s being used
w ith in the art w orld . T o speak
about the w o rk in a w a y that
says yes, I m ake it and I like
m akin g it, but th at’s on ly part
o f w h a t this w o rk is.
T h is isn’t a question y o u ’ve
actu ally asked, but it goes to
the root o f w h a t has becom e an
issue for crafts m akers, w h ich
is that in the ’60s, there w as
this huge, stron g need to iden-
tify around craft and being
craftsp erson s, in order to bring
cra ft into the aw areness o f the
general public. B ut havin g
done that, th ey are n o w in a
bo x. T h e question is: H o w do
y o u break out o f that and say,
w e ll, actually, w e em phasized
the craft so you w o u ld u n d er-
stand it - n o w w e w a n t you to
understand that w e ’re artists
w h o m ake things?
H o w w o u ld th at happen?
It’s goin g to have to be crafts
m akers w h o open up that box.
I f som eone from the craft w orld
says, “ H o w com e I ’m not in the
b o o k ? ” I have to say because
it’s not for me to w rite you r
b o o k . I’m com in g at this from
an installation art backgrou n d ;
I don’t k n o w enough about
the m ak in g to com m ent.
It’s really n o w tim e for the
m akers to say, O K , w e need to
let go o f things that are holding
us back. I d on ’t th in k that it has
to do w ith the w o rk - it has to
do w ith n om enclature, w ith
labeling, w ith perceptions.
In Japan, a tea b o w l is as
revered as a painting. I f you
h aven ’t had have fou r cen tu -
ries o f institutional learning
that says paintings are better
than ceram ics, you sim ply look
at that ceram ic and say, w o w ,
that speaks to m e; I am having
an artistic exp erien ce w ith it.
In the W e s t, w e m ight say
“ and just from a tea b o w l.”
B u t in Japan, th ey w o u ld never
say
“j u s t
fro m .” S o it’s not only
m akers w h o have to let go o f
thin gs, it’s artists - people
w h o see th em selves as artists.
T h a t’s w h y I th in k this
book is interesting. T h e se are
artists w h o
h a v e
let go, w h o
are sayin g y es, I don’t m ake
this. I don’t ph ysically m ake
this. I ’m lettin g go o f that
L a
B ohèm e
notion o f the artist in
the cold, fre e zin g flat in Paris
w ith violins p layin g and p e o -
ple d yin g o f consum ption.
T h e re w a s one re v ie w e r w h o
said y o u r book — and this
m ovem en t — indicates som e-
th in g w ro n g w ith the art w o rld
in gen eral, and criticized the
b o o k for sh o w in g “ inherently
non-visual installations” that
dem onstrate the “ n e w aca-
dem icism o f m uch current
m useum and saleroom art.”
H o w do y o u respond to that?
I k n o w the one y o u ’re talk in g
about. W h e n she referred to it
as non-visual, I thought: W h a t
The A rt o f Not M aking
presents a broad range
o f projects and aesthetics.
Gavin T urk’s
Pile
(2004)
isn’t garbage; it’s bronze,
professionally cast. A i
W eiw ei em ploys crafts-
m en to create his w orks,
such as
Cube Light
(2008),
with its 170,000 glass beads.
b o o k did she pick up? I can fo l-
lo w the rest o f w h at she’s say-
ing - because you can dislike
this ty p e o f w o rk , absolutely
- but it’s certain ly visual.
T h e r e ’s a piece b y Jochem
H en d rick s that looks lik e a
glass egg, and it’s filled w ith
sand. It’s called
6 ,12 8 ,3 74
G r a in s o f S a n d ,
W h e n you
understand w h a t he has done,
it’s unbelievable. H e hired
u n d ocu m en ted w o rk ers to do
this n othing job, w h ich result-
ed in this object, w h ich is actu -
ally quite beautiful. B ut it’s
talk in g about an incredible sit-
uation in w h ich undocum ented
w orkers have to do all sorts o f
banal jobs in order to su rvive.
So on one level, yes, th at’s an
academ ic w o rk , but at the sam e
tim e it’s extrem ely visual.
T h is b o o k is not a clarion
call to burn paintings or break
the hands o f people w h o m ake
ceram ics. It’s ju st d ocu m en tin g
som ething th at’s happening,
th at’s part o f another tradition
- a v e ry long tradition.
tham esandhudsonusa.com
m ocalondon.co.uk
J u li e K . H a n u s is
A m erican
C raft’s
s e n io r e d ito r.
106
america craft
aug/scp 11
