Abstraction Is One Of The Greatest Visionary

While A Large Segment Of The Art World Has Obsessed Over A Tiny Number Of Stars And Their Prices, An Aesthetic Shift Has Been Occurring. It's Not A Movement - Movements Are More Sure Of Themselves. It's A Change Of Mood Or Expectation, A Desire For Art To Be More Than Showy Effects, Big Numbers, And Gamesmanship.

Art Is For Anyone. It Just Isn't For Everyone. Still, Over The Past Decade, Its Audience Has Hugely Grown, And That's Irked Those Outside The Art World, Who Get Irritated At Things Like Incomprehensibility Or Money.

I Also Take Pleasure In The So-called Negative Power In Grotjahn's Work. That Is, I Love His Paintings For What They Are Not. Unlike Much Art Of The Past Decade, Grotjahn Isn't Simply Working From A Prescribed Checklist Of Academically Acceptable, Curator-approved 'isms' And Twists.

Appropriation Is The Idea That Ate The Art World. Go To Any Chelsea Gallery Or International Biennial And You'll Find It. It's There In Paintings Of Photographs, Photographs Of Advertising, Sculpture With Ready-made Objects, Videos Using Already-existing Film.

Maybe The Museum [of Arts And Design ]needs To Follow The Advice Of Its Acronym And Not Be Afraid To Go A Little M.a.d.