editorial

The Divine Spirit Of Aesthetic Expression

Dr. Kubilay Akman

Contemporary art is in the tendency of reducing art into a reflection of our modern societies and their daily lives. The divinity of aesthetic expression is disappearing in the postartist's works. In this dark picture to be an artist seems easier than anything on the world for some persons. The concept of "postart" is defined and criticized brilliantly by Donalt Kuspit. His pioneer works opened a rich and critical path for us, all the art critics, artists and audience around the world. I am proud to inform the EuroArt readers that Donald Kuspit joined to our writers for this issue. more...

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The Matrix of Sensations

Donald Kuspit

I present to you what I think is a radical thesis: that the period of avant-garde painting, which officially began with the so-called color patches of paint in Manet’s Music in the Tuileries Gardens in 1862, and climaxed almost a century later in the dynamic tachisme of European art informale and American modernist painting, was a time of transition from traditional analogue art to postmodern digital art, that is, to an art grounded in codes rather than images. The status and significance of the image changes in postmodern digital art: the image becomes a secondary more...

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Art And Art Making as a Political Action in South Caucasus, Middle East, and The Balkans

Beral Madra

In this text, I will discuss art as political action in the context of contemporary art practices and in the context of Middle East, South Caucasus and the Balkans. In doing so, I will explore the parameters of mediation as well as the position of the artist within the socio-political and economic context of this region. Modernism placed the artist on the position of the mediator who was supposed to transmit the utopias through sublimated artworks and thereby to fulfill the expectations of modern societies. In 1985, Joseph Beuys, in a conversation with Yannis Kounellis, claimed that “we are here to built cathedrals” more...

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Ruined America: The Photographs of Camilo José Vergara

Dr. Gerry Coulter

Camilo José Vergara uses photography to preserve decay. Four of his books of photographs are of ruins: The New American Ghetto; American Ruins; The Twin Towers Remembered; and Subway Memories. Vergara avoids so called areas of “gentrification” preferring to focus his lens on places like Camden (New Jersey), West Pullman (Chicago), Gary (Indiana), and the skyscraper graveyard of Detroit’s Grand Circus Park. Looking at Vergara’s photographs reminds me of watching the opening scenes of Jim Jarmusch’s film Stranger Than Paradise. more...

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The State of Art in America

Ann Priftis

"Manic," Frenzied," Aggressive – this is the state of art in America today where big names like Warhol, de Kooning and Hirst are fetching record-breaking prices at auction and fanning the flames of this seemingly unassuaging wildfire that is the current art market. Seats for Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale are now reserved well in advance by those VIP clients privelaged enough to receive an invitation to the previously open event. High estimates are being blown away by selling prices that double what was originally considered a high-estimate reach. more...

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Devrim Erbil’s colors reflect sharing and Istanbul

Jülide Karahan

Four ladies with beautiful shoes are chit-chatting in front of a turquoise-laden painting depicting İstanbul. A thousand different words of awe come to mind while looking at the birds in the picture, which is semi-complete. It will be named once it is finished and signed once it is sold. But no signature is necessary to understand the birds were made with Devrim Erbil's brush. The women repeatedly ask to buy it, but the painting already has an owner. Without hope, they decide to order different paintings for their homes. At that moment the painter turns away and calls for one of his assistants to take care of the orders and payments. more...

interview

The Power of OF Sculpture / Between Superstitious Moons and Memorial Flowers

Interview with Debora Warner

"I am from a small town in upstate NY where the general population is not educated. There is a higher potential for superstitious beliefs to take hold of the minds of a fearful, largely ignorant community. I was also thinking about equating "urbanism" with rationality and contrasting it with a rural, more "irrational" attitude. Where I live in NY, I don't see the moon often as it is obscured by the skyline, but even so, the moon is closely connected to the rhythms of life on earth as well as superstition. I am asking a question… Do we unconsciously project random fears and/or beliefs on the moon? " more...

art agenda

10th International Istanbul Biennial

Istanbul, Turkey 8th September-4th November 2007

The 10th International Istanbul Biennial will not be a conventional thematic exhibition, rather; it will emphasise artistic production based on collective intelligence and the living process of negotiating with physical sites. The Biennial will focus on urban issues and architectural more...

art agenda

Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years

New York, USA 3rd June–10th September 2007

Richard Serra’s last exhibition could be seen at the MoMa. One of the preeminent sculptors of our era, Richard Serra (American, b. 1939) has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work, which emphasizes materiality and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the work. more...

art agenda

Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon

Montreal, Canada 21st June-23rd September, 2007

This nationally touring exhibition on Emily Carr (1871-1945) at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the first in morethan thirty years, presents some 200 objects – paintings, drawings, watercolours, caricatures, ceramics, sculpture, hooked rugs, books, maps, photographs and ephemera – 150 more...

art agenda

Portraits of the Bishops of Ljubljana

Ljubljana, Slovenia 19th June – 30th September 2007

This exhibition, in honour of the 300th anniversary of the Ljubljana cathedral, presents portraits of the "shepherds" of the Ljubljana diocese from the times of its founding to the present day. The items on display, selected according to cultural-historical more...

art agenda

How We Are: Photographing Britain

London, UK 22nd May-2nd September 2007

This is the first major exhibition of photography ever to be held at Tate Britain. It takes a unique look at the journey of British photography, from the pioneers of the early medium to today’s photographers who use new technology to make and display their imagery. more...

art agenda

Extreme Crafts

Vilnius, Lithuania 25th May-12th August 2007

Extreme Crafts Exhibition is at the CAC (Contemporary Arts Center). Handicrafts are increasingly being used by artists and designers as a source of inspiration and method of manufacture. Many crafts are experiencing resurgence in popularity; they are no longer the bastion of elderly ladies, but people more...

art agenda

From Titian to Goya Great Masters from the Museo del Prado

Beijing, China 29th June – 24th August

The exhibition, which opens on 29 June at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing, comprises an outstanding selection of great 16th- to 19th-century paintings from the collection of the Museo Nacional del Prado. The exhibition will then travel to its second more...