Im sure this writers position will generate controversy...but it is worth the read if you are involved with BFA and MFA programs. Unfortunately he doesnt give an economic or political analysis of de-skilling in art school. The big economic factor is that teaching skills is very expensive - it requires space, special tools and facilities, and it is enhanced by good natural light. It is much cheaper for schools to throw large numbers of students together in a small windowless room (or a hallway, as happens in a few New York art schools) and have them talk about practice and then go outside and take a walk or volunteer somewhere or plant a garden on a roof. The politics of de-skilling has to do with the rising power of post-conceptualist artists in art schools and the ongoing ideological war between them and the old school formalists who want to continue having everyone draw the figure. Economics trumps all here, I would say, with very few exceptions. At the same time, artists with money to pay assistants will continue to need skilled young artists, so the demand for those who can draw will not diminish as long as the market keepings booming.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 14:06:15 +0000
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