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A review by goldandsalt
The Light Room by Kate Zambreno
1.0
This should totally be my jam. Art and care and early motherhood? Seems like it would be a slam dunk, but I pretty intensely disliked this.
First off, I guess I'm more into writing about making art than art critique. Moreover, she's really interested in assemblage, and boy do I dislike assemblage. I just can't get past how old and greasy and dusty and yellowed they often feel, even when they are none of those things. I know modern art isn't always about the aesthetics, but I'm not deeply enough into art analysis to be able to get past an aesthetic that I hate.
Ok, that out of the way, this was horribly depressing: pandemic with small children in NYC, seemingly as adjunct professors with working conditions that I know all too well, but also keeping up with the absurdly privileged with their private nature schools and obsession with expensive Montessori toys. Reading this with an infant at home was just not fun. She writes a lot about striving to achieve some performative parenting ideal that seems to be making her miserable and that was relatable in theory, but just bummed me out to read about.
I dunno, I guess I wanted some systemic analysis or something to make my brain tingle, not musings on how her house depressed her.
First off, I guess I'm more into writing about making art than art critique. Moreover, she's really interested in assemblage, and boy do I dislike assemblage. I just can't get past how old and greasy and dusty and yellowed they often feel, even when they are none of those things. I know modern art isn't always about the aesthetics, but I'm not deeply enough into art analysis to be able to get past an aesthetic that I hate.
Ok, that out of the way, this was horribly depressing: pandemic with small children in NYC, seemingly as adjunct professors with working conditions that I know all too well, but also keeping up with the absurdly privileged with their private nature schools and obsession with expensive Montessori toys. Reading this with an infant at home was just not fun. She writes a lot about striving to achieve some performative parenting ideal that seems to be making her miserable and that was relatable in theory, but just bummed me out to read about.
I dunno, I guess I wanted some systemic analysis or something to make my brain tingle, not musings on how her house depressed her.