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A review by jennylimmy
The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning by Maggie Nelson
5.0
I’m a huge fan of The Argonauts and The Red Parts, so I picked up The Art of Cruelty without realizing it was art theory. (Yes, I know the info’s in the title, but I never claimed to be smart.) Being an art theory novice, I wasn’t sure I’d get much out of the book. I should not have doubted Maggie Nelson!
Nelson asks why contemporary artists and audiences are so enamored with brutality: from “brutal honesty” in memoirs to the screaming corpses of Francis Bacon. She includes many interesting examples and quotations from artists, including Marina Abramovic on Art must be Beautiful, Artist must be Beautiful: “At that time I thought that art should be disturbing, rather than beautiful...but at my age now, I have started thinking that beauty is not so bad.”
Indeed! As a viewer and reader, I’ve grown less and less interested in work about how shitty the world and its people are. Michael Haneke is great for an emo teen (and I loved him as an emo teen); now, with the exception of Amour, what value do his movies bring to the world?
This book is thought-provoking and entertaining (e.g. Nelson’s rant on the manufactured controversy surrounding the advertising for the movie Captivity). It doesn’t answer questions; instead, it gives you space to think. What could be a more generous gift?
Nelson asks why contemporary artists and audiences are so enamored with brutality: from “brutal honesty” in memoirs to the screaming corpses of Francis Bacon. She includes many interesting examples and quotations from artists, including Marina Abramovic on Art must be Beautiful, Artist must be Beautiful: “At that time I thought that art should be disturbing, rather than beautiful...but at my age now, I have started thinking that beauty is not so bad.”
Indeed! As a viewer and reader, I’ve grown less and less interested in work about how shitty the world and its people are. Michael Haneke is great for an emo teen (and I loved him as an emo teen); now, with the exception of Amour, what value do his movies bring to the world?
This book is thought-provoking and entertaining (e.g. Nelson’s rant on the manufactured controversy surrounding the advertising for the movie Captivity). It doesn’t answer questions; instead, it gives you space to think. What could be a more generous gift?