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Early Clem / Late Clem
 

Shrine for Clement Greenberg's:

"Culture and Kitsch"

Text to the Author:

Sad to say Clem, you were a pawn in the artgame, but Right On! You were probably the single most influential art critic in the later twentieth century with your early support for Abstract Expressionism, in particular Pollock, then your later views closely shaped the Color Field work of other artists, including Frankenthaler, Louis, and Noland.

In your brilliant, oft-quoted essay, "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" you defined what has become the Modern Artworld: it is profitable, it is mechanical, it operates by formulas, it is vicarious, it is sensational, it adopts varying styles, it is the epitome of all that is spurious, it pretends to demand nothing from its customers but money, “--not even their time.” It's the ultimate synthesis of modern culture and pop media, as a result (in the sense of Walter Benjamin), it destroys culture and then profits immensely.

This is depraved, despicable and anti-intellectual, leaving only sex, blood and thrills as a metaphor for the future. A new direction/perspective/theory is necessary for what appears to be the last gasps of an over-heated world; a critique that creates a non-commercial, vibrant culture, one that you'd again be thrilled to witness and write about.


 

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