A recent article about Julie Merhetu in the New York Times on noted that she was now in the “canon.” I admire her work, so I wish the article had indicated who put her in the canon. The art dealers? The big NYC museums? The art critics? Who?
The whole idea of the canon makes no sense to me now. When I studied art history in college, the canon was Western art of white men. Grudgingly some native arts came in followed by some women artists. Then black, Asian, outsider, Hispanic, the art of the mentally ill and more.
The canon is a fluid thing because what art is is a fluid thing. Could you and I sit down and create the canon? Could we have a canon of artists who never made it to the art capitals. Let me know when you want to start.
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