(a mini-essay inspired by a public Facebook post by artist Kin Misa)
SA ganang akin, ang problema ng art critic, akala niya siya lang ang dapat pinakikinggan tungkol sa art ni Juan. Ang problema ni Juan, gusto niya siya lang ang pinakikinggan dahil art niya raw yun. Ang problema ng art collector na may maraming pera, gusto niyang iparating na siya lang ang may huling salita sa kung aling artwork ni Juan ang superb at aling art ni Pedro ang walang kuwenta.
Ako ay political critic. Wala akong pakialam sa problema ng ibang political critics tulad ni Tom. Wala rin akong pakialam sa problema ng mga pulitiko tulad ni Dick. Wala rin akong pakialam sa problema ng mga powerbrokers tulad ni Harry na may hawak na mga political pundits at pulitiko na rin.
Pero, teka. Mali yata ako. Kasi sa mga sinabi kong iyon, di ba't kasasampal ko lang sa mga problema nila? At dahil sinampal ko ang presensiya nila, ibig sabihin, pinoproblema ko pa rin sila!
Well, paano ka naman tatahimik kung nakikita mo silang tatlo at hindi lamang ang isa?
AND since we mentioned the word political, I'd have to agree that art criticism is indeed politicking, in many senses of the word, depending on how one is politiciking with their art criticism. Presumably, some, if not all, critics have their own agenda.
It's a given, then, that critics and curators and art theorists do carry these agendas of theirs with them, some not even latently or subtly but in the loudest fashion available to them, and in some cases in cahoots, even, with artists and artists' groups whose considerations for a buying public might come last. It is "the modern conceit," this artmaking and art-seeing within one's politics, and vice versa, shared by everyone at the production end, whether they like it or not.
HAVING said that, the ass kisser critic, being in the act of politicking within their politics of ass-kissing, is simply being an art critic and a politicker at the same time, the way all critics become every time they critique. The only difference is that not all critics own the ass-kissing politics that Tom/Dick/Harry (or whatever their name is) has, even though a nation's critics may 90%-95% be a bunch of ass kissers like Tom/Dick/Harry (or whatever their name is). But that doesn't make the ass-kissing critic a fake critic, the politics of ass-kissing being as real as any ass that is seen. In short, ass-kissing critics are real critics, and we have to acknowledge that they exist and are practicing their politics in the here and now. [AP-CA]
