Peter Schjeldahl Notes Part IV

Selected notes from Peter's teachings on critical writing, continued (click here for Part I, here for Part II and here for Part III):

A gallery front room is a perk for the artist.

The audience for a catalogue introduction is only one person – the artist. It is not a sales brochure.

The definitive weakness of an immature writer is lots of adverbs.

The absolute futility of a generation of art critics that assumed Warhol's work was ironic. He was innocent and greedy (A statement that is insulting to the middle class.)

The difference between humor and satire: Satire is always reformist.

Never use the word "problematic." It's the archetypal academic dodge. Its semantic sense is unsound. There's something unhealthy here. As a writer, everything should be spelled out.

[When looking at a] Cindy Sherman [photograph (or any work of art), we have a] three-step response:

1. Shock and/or delight.
2. [The work] falls apart and becomes nothing.
3. The original illusion returns, integrated with the artifice, and you're aware of it as a made thing, and it becomes beautiful. Everything works to the common good, nothing gets in anything's way. [The work] reconstitutes itself at a higher level.

To be continued.

Cindy Sherman photograph via Elizabeth Avedon.

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Brian Bress: Instamatic

John Mendelsohn/Mendelssohn/Mendels(s)ohn: "Sorry We're Open"

John Mendels(s)ohn, is the only person I know with parentheses in his name. He's a special kind of chap, who inspires a certain tone of critical review. Rolling Stone once said he sounded like Todd Rundgren with severely inadequate equipment.

That was "back in the day," when Mendels(s)ohn's band, Christopher Milk, recorded for Warner Brothers; back in the day when he wrote for Rolling Stone and Cream and interviewed the likes of (early) David Bowie (in a dress) and, later, Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs, "[who he] was nearly able to see... through the smoke of the 360 cigarettes [Butler] smoked during [their] 20 minutes together;" and back (a bit later) in the day, once more behind the microphone to record with Rhino Records in 1995. Such is the swirling life of a proto-rock star turned music critic, turned proto-rock star, again.

Today – a few decades, continents and gentle debaucheries after his 1971 Halfnelson debut – John Mendels(s)ohn's latest, self-produced album defies comparison, perhaps even description. On "Sorry We're Open," you might call Mendels(s)ohn a whimsical ranter; an ironic straight-shooter; or a deeply twisted love-sponge. But it's hard to label him any one thing and make it stick. Besides, why would you – he's the man with parentheses in his name, for god's sake! The marvel of this boyishly gifted artist – on the new album, in particular – is the way his voice, his ideas, his very essence swirl and twist and turn, like a dancing hippie-punk-hybrid genie, ever fresh out of its lamp and looking to change the world.

"Sorry We're Open" sees Mendels(s)ohn continue to preserve his inalienable right, as a parenthetical icon of his generation, to slip whatever vaporous, boxing with velvet gloves weirdness/sincerity he wants into those ever-beckoning punctuation marks of his. For one thing, his lilting voice – so angelic, it's menacing – adds a hint of threat to the most benign lyric. Not that his lyrics are always benign, with songs like "Xenophobia," "Soil Me" and "Swastikas in Drag."

This could all add up to a hipster lounge act waiting to burst onto the Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Reno, Albuquerque or Camel Rock scene. Whether it does or not, John Mendels(s)ohn keeps us eternally on the edge of our Naugahyde seats. "Who's sorry (now)?" we might ask.

Peter Schjeldahl Notes Part III

Selected notes from Peter's teachings on critical writing, continued (click here for Part I and here for Part II):

A work of art is not a commodity. A commodity differs only in price. A work of art has a unique character/identity and no inherent value. Artworks behave more like money than like commodities.

Never explain how one thing is harder to describe than another. Don't comment on what you're doing. [This is like] Apologizing to our own ideal.

Words fail.

Painting is incarnate – has a skin and a body, like we do. That's why it's important.

The spirit of description: The way something is matters. Our life depends on it. [For example:] "Fat and green and full of sin." Raymond Chandler describing a fly.

Can I look at this in a way the artist has not intended? If so, out with it. Does the artist know what I'm seeing?

Boredom is the unwilling consciousness of passing time – You're dying/closer to the grave. Film is a pure escape from the sense of time.

[As a critical writer, you need to be] Inside enough to know what you're talking about and outside enough to tell the truth.

To be continued.

Image via Hawaii Life Hack.

Peter Schjeldahl Notes Part II

Selected notes from Peter's teachings on critical writing, continued (click here for Part I):

Lead with a quality judgement.

Jokes are so important.

ISV, a fictional character: The Incredibly Stupid Viewer, who must be respected.

Avoid French words [Oops, you mean like "Chateau?"].

If it sounds wrong, being right won't save it.

[Recommended books:] For tone, Persuasion by Jane Austen and The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler.

Logic is very bad for you. Pain always produces logic ["Pain always produces logic, which is very bad for you."]. Frank O'Hara

Power is defined by use. [For example] If you have a light source and never plug it in....

You have to be able to make an enemy every week and not run out of friends.

Sophistication is always specific to a use.

To be Continued.

Book cover images via Jane Austin in Vermont and Cover Browser.

Peter Schjeldahl Notes

A few years ago, I attended a weeklong professional writers workshop given by New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl at the Santa Fe Art Institute. I was the only artist and non-writer in the group. Here are selected notes I took of Peter's words:

[Talking about not seeing the art in person:] Reproduction is like paper money. Slides are lies that you believe.

Finding the right "wrong" words.

Art is organized in service of our attention, the world is not.

"Beauty is the coincidence of the eternal and the fleeting." – Baudelair [I believe Peter was paraphrasing, as I can't find this quote anywhere.]

Smile, say thank you, keep moving.

Subject and predicate in the first sentence. "We" is dicey and important – the reader should be completely with you – it should pass without notice. [Peter is an] "I" critic. Presume that an experience can be of use to other people. "You" is a great switcher. Pauline Kael was a "you" critic. "We" is where you seal the deal – cash in. [I remember he said if you must use "we," don't use it until the very end of a review.] "Who, what, where, when, why" are very important to work in at the beginning – the lead.

Nothing happens in the middle; the middle is the residue of the extremes. [He may have still been talking about writing structure at this point – I don't remember; but I take away a broader meaning, and one that pertains, in particular, to art-making. It reminds me of something William Burroughs said: "Beware the middle way."]

In a way, the artist's intention is secondary to what we perceive.

To be continued.

Peter Schjeldahl portrait via The New Yorker.