Art Criticism Research Articles

AI in the Public Eye

A taster summary of our FAccT 2023 paper in Chicago. Strategies developed within the critical art community – before and since the arrival of powerful new generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney – can help to enrich the public conversation on AI and equip practitioners to respond to the fast paced developments in the field.

Визуальный портрет главной героини в «Пейзаже и жанре» Н. С. Лескова «Зимний день»

The problem of the interaction of words and images in the works of N.S. Leskov is currently the least studied. The genre subtitle of the late story A Winter’s Day (1894) – “Landscape and genre” encourages us to consider the work in the aspect of the designated problem. O. V. Evdokimova (1980), B. S. Dykhanova (2013), O. V. Chervinskaya (2018), D. S. Rivanenkova (2021) analyze the features of the genre, taking into account the meanings of the subtitle. The specific nature of the genre of the work determines the poetics of the portrait in it, which has not been studied before. The portrait of the main character in the story by N.S. Leskov is interpreted as a visual portrait, a visual image. The understanding of the “visual image” is based on literary, cultural and art criticism works of the modern scientists. The climax in the poetics of the portrait of the main character, Lydia, is a comparison with the goddess Diana. The analysis of sculptural and pictorial contexts (“Goddess Artemis with a deer” Tanagra, end of 4th century B.C., “Diana of Versailles”, circa 325 B. C., “Diana Resting”, 1732–1733, “The Hunt of Diana”, 1616–1620 etc.) illustrates that the writer shows the world through the lens of the depicted. Contextual connections of Lydia’s portrait with the image of Diana actualize the visual image in the work of N. S. Leskov. The main character of the story is an exceptional character against the background of other (everyday) characters of the work, since her visual portrait, which includes the features of pictorial and sculptural images, was created as a separate work of art. The article shows that the poetics of a visual portrait is determined by different facets of the genre – “Landscape and genre”: the everyday and the existential ones.

Lee Ufan's ambivalent otherness and art historiography

AbstractThis article aims to reexamine the relationship between the artist Lee Ufan and nationalist art history through his idea of “ambivalent otherness,” which he defined as both “suffering” and “power.” Traditional art history is established upon a nationalist framework that emphasizes the artists' nationality, leading to the marginalization of national others at the border. As a zainichi Korean, Lee has undergone the “suffering” of being excluded by the art world and art historiography. However, he transformed it into his source of “power” to challenge art historiography based on nationality. This study analyzes the art criticism of “Japanese Contemporary Art History” written by Minemura Toshiaki and Chiba Shigeo in the 1970s and 1980s and highlights the ruptures that the artist's in-between identity wrought on nationalist art history. This shows how both the Mono-ha movement and the artist were marginalized in the construction of “Japanese Contemporary Art History.” Furthermore, this study scrutinizes how Lee attempted to rewrite art history using Mono-ha art theory and a perspective committed to “overcoming coloniality” from the postcolonial in-between position, by reinterpreting Lee's article on Chosŏn minhwa, written amidst an aesthetic controversy across the border between Japan and Korea.

Палеонтологиялық экспонаттардың көшірмелерін жасау әдістері

The article presents methods of making copies of paleontological exhibits based on many years of experience in making copies of paleontological exhibits. The proposed methods allow you to avoid errors, improve the quality of exhibits, reduce the production time and increase the service life. These guidelines are addressed to restoration artists, art critics and museum keepers. These recommendations are based on many years of experience in training young specialists in the necessary professional skills during internships for the manufacture of copies and restoration of paleontological fossil bones at the Museum of Nature of the Republican State Enterprise “Gylym Ordasy” Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Changes in the representation of heroes in contemporary Ukrainian cinema

This article examines current trends in the changing concept of the hero in recent Ukrainian cinema and the related tendency to neglect authentic Ukrainian culture on account of the pervasive influence of Western traditions in cinema. The article employs various, academic methods of art criticism: literary and film analysis, comparison, synthesis, analogy and typologisation. Analysing several films from the period of independent Ukraine, Cyborgs: Heroes Never Die (2017, dir. Akhtem Seitablayev), Sniper. The White Raven (2022, dir. Marian Bushan) and Klondike (2022, dir. Maryna Er Gorbach), the authors show that the depiction of Ukrainian film heroes depends on contemporary local events. The contemporary hero of Ukrainian cinema emerges as an ambiguous figure.

Anthropocene as Capitalocene

If the Anthropocene designates humanity’s environmental footprint, the Capitalocene underlines the economic and political premises of the current climate crisis, tied to long-term colonial dispossession and exploitation of ‘cheap nature’. The current article explores the matrix of violence embedded in the Capitalocene as it is appears in the research-based critical art projects produced by Romanian artists Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán. I show how, focusing on devastated or fabricated landscapes, as well as on contested sites of conflict from the Global South that are often camouflaged or disguised under eco-veils, Benera and Estefán’s art practice rethinks post-socialism from a planetary perspective. I also claim that their body of work, which employs archival and cartografic formats of visualisation, proposes an alternative epistemological matrix, directed against the global exercise of environmental and political violence.

Art master Yulia Gusarova is an artist of multifaceted talent

The article contains materials about the work of St. Petersburg artist Yulia Vasilievna Gusarova, a master who creates works in different materials and techniques and has her own theme, manner and style. The purpose of the article is to determine the foundations and nature of creativity, to track the dynamics of the personal development of a hereditary artist. She is multi-faceted and is successfully realized in the art of painting, in mosaics, in ceramics, in textiles, in scientific and pedagogical activities. The main themes of her work: stories from the history of culture and art, travel impressions, the world of the sea and marine life, the fantastic world of the medieval "bestiary" and modern technology. The article presents examples of her works, describes their semantic content and artistic merits, notes theoretical and methodological-pedagogical aspects of the problems of art and art education. The materials of the article have novelty, because they are offered for publication for the first time. There was no scientific study of Y. Gusarova's creativity in domestic and foreign art criticism. The results and research methods in this article can be useful in art criticism for use in writing monographic works about the work of other artists, as well as for creating a complete picture of the features of the work of domestic ceramic artists of the XX - XXI centuries.

The works of the Leningrad art industry enterprises of the second half of the twentieth century and their role in the organization of the living environment (on the example of the products of the Leningrad Enamel plant)

During the last decade scientific interest of the Soviet period consumer goods has been increasing in the context of global political processes, on the one hand, and from the point of view of the organization of the living environment, on the other. The post-war and the late Soviet period consumer goods are interesting for analysis, since they are connected with the state policy of the everyday life of a Soviet citizen. Since the late 1940s, the formation of the consumer goods has been taking place on three levels of everyday culture: the space of the body, the space of the house, the space of the city. The article examines the problem of transition from an environment filled with private objects (1950s) to a single concept of the organization of the environment - design (1960s), using the example of the products of Leningrad art industry enterprises and archival materials (enterprise reports). The study of the material filling of the everyday space of the Soviet are citizen within the framework of the culturological approach assumed the use of a structural and functional method. As part of archival research, a source–based assessment of materials was carried out - annual reports of enterprises. When analyzing the works - products of the art industry enterprises, a set of art criticism methods was used. The materials of the Leningrad Enamel artel/plant are presented for the first time, some samples of the company's products are selected and analyzed in the context of changing stylistic coordinates and the formation of technical aesthetics. Based on the analysis of the degree of study of the porcelain and textile industry of Leningrad in the post-war and late Soviet periods, the conclusion is made about the importance of studying the problem of transition from a stylistic marker of the subject component of the living environment to a design one. This transition is demonstrated by the example of the history and some works from the assortment of the Leningrad Enamel company. Archival materials made it possible to expand the understanding of the history of the enterprise, the circumstances of the transfer of the artel to state administration and the making of products in accordance with the requirements of decorative minimalism. The analysis of artistically designed household goods (cigarette cases, compact boxes) confirms the theses not only about the formal change of artistic language, but also about the formation of ideas about a new living environment.

The Problem of Aesthetic Truth in Adorno’s Aesthetics Ⅱ: Art Criticism and Recognition of Truth

The Problem of Aesthetic Truth in Adorno’s Aesthetics Ⅱ: Art Criticism and Recognition of Truth

Рецензия на альбом-каталог: Владимир Попов. Каллиграфия. Автор-составитель Л.Н. Донина (Казань, 2019. 400 с.)

The article is devoted to the illustrated-annotated album-catalogue “Vladimir Popov. Calligraphy,” representing one of the stages of the work of the famous artist. Works by V.A. Popov's are found to be of ever-increasing relevance – in connection with Russia's new turn towards the ideas of Eurasianism, towards cooperation with the countries of the East, an important mediator of which is Tatarstan. The calligraphic works of the master are shown in the context of his life and creative path involved with with the history of the country and the region, the development of the Tatar national culture and the Arabographic art of the republic. This reflects the uniqueness of the author’s concept of L.N. Donina, expressed in a detailed display of the creative path and civic stance of the artist. The reviewer notes the depth of the publication author's search for the meaning of V.A. Popov’s turn to Islamic graphics. This stage of his biography is interpreted as a period of finding answers to important life questions that were posed and solved by the artist. In the wisdom of Islam, he finds those ideas that resonate with his own spiritual search and do not contradict the postulates of other world religions. He expresses them in his characteristic expressive manner, using a wide range of means of artistic expression developed by him in previous years. This gives the author a reason to characterise the master’s work of this period as a synthesis of Tatar and Russian cultures, traditions of East and West. The article concludes that the work under review is an independent research work in which L.N. Donina, in addition to the main art criticism, uses general scientific and historical approaches. Album-catalogue “Vladimir Popov. Calligraphy” is certainly a creative achievement of the author.

ՀՀ ԳԱԱ արվեստի ինստիտուտը և պարսկական արվեստի ուսումնասիրությունը

NAS RA Institute of Arts prepares scholars for our neighboring friendly country - the Islamic Republic of Iran. From the year 2008, citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran do their postgraduate research work at the Institute. Many of them, having completed and defended in due term their PhD theses, are awarded a PhD degree in Arts and/or Architecture. Naturally, their research is mainly focused on the issues of Persian art. NAS RA Institute of Arts Specialized Academic Council in Arts 016, the only one in Armenia, awards academic degrees in all the fields of Art Criticism. At the Specialized Council 016, postgraduate students of not only NAS RA Institute of Arts, but also of Yerevan State Academy of Arts, Yerevan State University and Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory - citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran, defended their PhD theses. In the article, the contribution of NAS RA Institute of Arts to the study of Persian art is elucidated for the first time. The list and relevant data of the Iranian postgraduate students, who defended their theses at NAS RA Institute of Arts Specialized Academic Council in Arts 016 and received academic degrees of PhD in Arts, was compiled and introduced to academic circles for the first time.

Beckett’s Prose Fiction and Waiting for Godot

Abstract Waiting for Godot is not often presented as homologous with Beckett’s narrative fiction. However, a close consideration of the status of the boy(s) in the play shows that the drama text undermines the dichotomy between inner and outer world, which Beckett was addressing in comparable ways in his novels and art criticism.

MEANS OF VIDEO ART: KHARKIV PROJECTS «IN THE DARK» AND «LIUTYI»

The article examines the use of moving image and video practices as a means of visual activity in the cultural and artistic exhibition environment. The analysis is based on the influence of the visual in the context of social and contemporary art. This problem is raised in the theory of Ukrainian art criticism about Ukrainian video art in a visual way and represents the testing of art projects. The aim is to analyze and define the segments of visual activity of Kharkiv video art using the examples of the projects In the Dark and Liutyi. The analysis of sources and recent publications has revealed a high degree of research on the emergence of video art and the reasons for the emergence of a new screen form in the global context, but in the context of the contemporary development of Ukrainian video art and the peculiarities of the use of moving image in the practices of Ukrainian artists at the level of local and regional schools, it has not been properly and deeply studied. The artistic direction of video art, which emerged at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, has not received structuring and theorization of the main technical and technological means of reproduction and representation of forms and hybrid forms, including a study of the artistic practices of Kharkiv video art and its place in the general context of the regional peculiarities of Ukrainian video art. The study of these issues and the development of these principles are the most relevant issues for the Ukrainian artistic process. It is important to note that art projects such as In the Dark and Liutyi, which use video art, have a common idea, a common space and environment. They develop the aesthetics of a loft space for immersion in a new reality that creates a moving image and is also part of the contemporary creative industry. Artistic visions change the viewer’s emotions and mental component into a transformed sense of reality, causing a state of immersion, combining different and distant associations in one trope and leading to a synthesis of several sensations, which actualizes the personal, visual and deepens the social sense of the individual.

Stéphane Mallarmé on Impressionism and the Impressionists in the context of French art criticism

The article prefaces the publication of the first Russian translation of Mallarmé’s essay ‘The Impressionists and Edouard Manet:’ originally printed in English in a London-based periodical in 1876, it was not rediscovered until the early 21st c., when the essay’s translation back into French became available. In his work, Mallarmé offers the first contemporary interpretation of Impressionism as a natural next step in the development of art, revealing it to be a form of self-reflection that gazes at reality. He notes that Manet’s manner of depicting landscapes and people in them bears a similarity to Japanese prints — an art form much beloved by the Impressionists. Other innovative viewpoints expressed by Mallarmé include his interpretation of mimesis, which, rather than mimicking nature, means its recreation, ‘touch by touch:’ the idea that the representative art of the period cannot be isolated from the characteristic politics and industry of the era, and the suggestion that, rather than treating artists as spiritual aristocrats, as was customary in the Romantic era, one should consider them as ‘energetic modern workers,’ exemplified by Impressionist painters. The article sets out to present Mallarmé’s ideas in the context of French art criticism from the 18th c. until the present day.

Ukrainian art studies of the 20th century: ways of development and main problems of research.

It has been investigated that Ukrainian art history in its historical development has followed a path characteristic of European artistic thought. The tasks faced by Ukrainian art history at the beginning of the 20th century are considered. During 1905–1917, art history in Ukraine acquired signs of structure, the directions of research were quite clearly defined. Based on the analysis of art studies of the 1920s, it was determined that they are characterized by a combination of clear retrospective vision, methodically correct handling of iconographic sources. The fact that the problem of national peculiarities of Ukrainian art history, its origins, driving factors, and priorities is of fundamental importance has been revealed. The article states that the Soviet totalitarian regime initiated a new stage of the «state» approach to the development of national inversions of science, literature and, in particular, art history. It was found out that specific conclusions regarding the national style were removed from many works of domestic art researchers by censorship. The need to organize and harmonize with the national historical concept of chronology and periodization of Ukrainian art history remains an equally urgent task. In this regard, the publication is supplemented with tables with a chronology of cultural events and publications of art-historical publications. It was found that Ukrainian art history actively developed in the context of the general national revival. With the beginning of totalitarian repressions and the liquidation of literary and artistic associations in the Ukrainian SSR (1932), the development process moved to western Ukrainian lands, primarily to Lviv. It was noted that in the post-war period, after well-known socio-political and socio-cultural changes, art history, art criticism, as well as artistic creativity throughout the territory of Ukraine, were united under one ideological slogan of socialist realism. It is emphasized that an important role in this difficult period was played by Ukrainian figures of culture, science and art of the diaspora. It is revealed that Ukrainian art history of the second half of the 20th century developed in difficult socio-political and cultural conditions. It has been found that the second half of the 20th century, marked by the repeated "revival" of the socialist realist method, nevertheless proved the continuity of the development of the national concept in the field of art history. A new stage logically began during the years of independent Ukraine. It is highlighted that the national concept of the historical development of Ukrainian culture and art has become the leading one in the domestic humanitarian field. It is important that the revival of Ukrainian art criticism has begun.

TRENDS IN THE FINE ARTS OF TATARSTAN IN THE 1970-1990S ON THE EXAMPLE OF NARKIS PONOMAREV’S CREATIVITY

he article is devoted to the late Soviet period of fine arts in Tatarstan — a republic with rich avantgarde traditions, which was characterised by extraordinary intensity of artists’ creative life during the 1970–1990s. Today, this period of art, as a regional version of the second wave of the avant-garde, still remains insufficiently studied and requires more detailed and scrupulous study and understanding. The topic is considered on the example of one of the most original painters of Kazan of the second half of the 20th century — Narkis Ponomarev (1946–1996), who is considered by the author to be among the unofficial circle of artists. The study introduces the personality of Ponomarev as a self-taught artist and autodidact into the scientific context for the first time. It is argued that, despite the lack of the master’s professional art education and the resulting difficulties (lack of recognition in the artistic community, criticism from official art critics and officials, inability to exhibit, and so on), he managed to form and develop a self-sufficient and original art. Avant-garde tendencies in the artist’s work are identified and substantiated based on an analysis of more than 60 Ponomarev’s works mainly from private collections. Turning to the heritage of Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, German expressionists, etc., without copying, only focusing on them, Ponomarev developed his own artistic concept. Using a variety of bright colours, free volumetric strokes, turning to marginal subjects or lyrical landscapes and fantastic images, he imbued his works with simplicity and primitiveness, in the good sense of the word, of the image itself. It is noted that creativity, which gained its fame and recognition only in the post-Soviet period, was necessary for Ponomarev as a way of understanding the world around and oneself, as a therapeutic impulse for one’s own alienation. The purpose of this article is to trace the evolution of the artist, to reveal the role and significance of Ponomarev’s creative activity in the artistic life of Tatarstan in the 1970–1990s. The presentation of new trends and the introduction of new names into scientific circulation will help to identify paradoxes and facets in the history of the second wave of avant-garde in the era of the USSR.

A Mexican Renascence

Abstract This article explores the periodical contributions of the Mexican-Jewish writer and editor Anita Brenner (1905–1974). It argues that Brenner’s periodical contributions—primarily relating to art criticism and published in diverse outlets such as The Nation, Mexican Folkways, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and Mademoiselle—decenter ideas of Mexico as a site of peripheral avant-gardism and reveal how Brenner was a pioneer of a transnational and, in some ways, distinctly female avant-garde network.

Oil painting within the framework of art education to support local ethnic cultures and preserve cultural heritage in China

The purpose is to compare the development of innovative thinking in two groups of students who learn the intangible cultural heritage of the ancient ethnic group and master oil painting techniques in two formats: distantly and visiting the Miao settlement in the deep southeast of Guizhou. In addition to the traditional learning of oil painting techniques, the students learnt folklore and the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities as a part of the art curriculum. For practice, the control group (96 students) visited the villages of Miao in Guizhou, and the experimental group (96 students) gained experience and knowledge about the Miao ethnic minority distantly, through videos and e-discussions. At the end of the training, the students presented their final oil paintings on the life of the Miao. They have been assessed by teachers and art critics to identify innovative thinking among students as a driving force of creativity. The control group showed higher results on parameters such as Integrity (454 points) and Flexibility (287 points). The high-end result of the control group proved that innovative thinking is best developed by immersing students in the real world of the Miao and allowing them to experiment and feel their works.

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF TRAINING METHODS OF PHYSICAL THEATER STUDENTS’ BY MEANS OF PLASTIC ART

Abstract. The relevance of the study is the interdisciplinary aspects of theater students’ psychophysiological training. The problem of the research is the differences in the approaches to education and students’ psychophysiological training of physical and stage schools. The object of the research is educational aspects in the educational process, based on interdisciplinary research in the areas of psychophysiology, ethnopedagogy, traditional Kazakh values, synthesis of physical and stage schools, education, and art internationalization. The subject of the research is physical theater students’ psychophysiological sports training using performing arts. The purpose of the study is to determine the educational aspects of physical theater students’ psycho-physiological training by means of performing arts. The task of the study is to reveal the theoretical and methodological basis to create a methodic for the students’ psychophysiological training by means of performing arts. The research hypothesis is that when defining the goals and objectives of students’ psychophysiological training of physical and stage schools, it is possible to identify educational aspects for teaching profile disciplines methodic by means of performing arts. The methodological basis is based on the interdisciplinary study of researchers’ works in psychophysiology, students’ physical training, ethnopedagogy, traditional Kazakh values, performing arts, education, and art internationalization. Research methods: review-theoretical, psychophysiological, historical-culturological, art criticism, methodical-pedagogical analysis. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the scientific and theoretical justification of educational aspects of students’ psychophysiological training through the synthesis of physical and stage schools. The practical significance of the study is guided by using performing arts, tools of ethnopedagogy, and traditional Kazakh values, broadcast by performing arts. The results of the study made it possible to reveal the educational aspects of students’ psychophysiological training methodology by means of performing arts.

A Different Hunger

In echoing the title of A. Sivanadan’s seminal examination of Black cultural-political strategies of resistance to the representational violence governing the construction of colonial identities and power relations, this article argues that the racialized regime of representation continues to support the social production of global hunger and sustain its operation. In this context, hunger must be seen as an act of exteriorized violence directed against specific populations in order to maintain the necropolitical neo-colonial settlement. Within the aesthetic logic of humanitarianism supporting this regime, the emaciated figure of the suffering, silent other is continually forced to re-enact the traumatic scene of their own disappearance into the space of the image in order to fulfil a spectatorial desire to see and to be subjectivated through seeing. The article contends that the social construction of an intrinsically theatricalized humanitarian gaze is inimical to the political functioning of colonial-capitalist ways of seeing, thereby demonstrating that critical art practices are not exempt from operating within the parameters of this aesthetic regime. The article investigates the claims of Dutch artist Renzo Martens’ performative documentary, Episode III: Enjoy poverty (2008), to expose the hypocrisy of Western food aid practices through the lens of performative intervention. Through close analysis of the film, it cautions against positioning hunger as an object ‘outside’ reflexive critical consideration of it. It demonstrates that there is no external material reality that pre-exists our imagination and desire to know; no objective correlate for our hunger for social and political change. In order to understand this ‘different hunger’, we must recognise our differential implication in, and relation to, the world in which hunger is manifest and not construct an idealised optic that would allow us to simply imagine ourselves acting upon it.