Apparently I used to read alotof art bks. & Lucy Lippard was one of the people I respected for writing about the newest work. Now I cd practically give a shit. Although, recently, thinking about how my social circle once included mostly painters, poets, sculptors, classical musicians, filmmakers, photographers, rock musicians, etc, I realize how boring it is that I know so few people active in some of these fields anymore. So, who cares, right? Get to the fucking review.

I reckon this was one of Lippard's earliest bks. Some of the essays are about older work: dadaism & surrealism; some on newer work: "The Dematerialization of Art". All of it is on something that Lippard had things of substance to say about.

Perhaps the most forward-thinking & creative of the essays is one entitled: "A1b2s19e5n14720e5e5 I9n14f6o15r18a1t20i9o15n14 a1n14d4 o15r18 C3r18i9t20i9c3i9s19m13". The original title wd have all of the letter's numbers in subscript but I don't know how to do that here. In this, Lippard give instructions for creating a piece relating to all the artists in a MoMA show that involves doing reasearch on them & getting them together w/ MoMA board members to discuss things like artists' rights & the relationship of the museum to the world at large, etc. She further specifies that no films glorifying war be shown. Here's an instance typical of the possibilities that conceptual & political art opened up: a critic details what she might do in relation to an art exhibit & then turns that into a script for an action by someone else - using it as an opportunity to examine social responsibility of all parties involved. Bravo! ( )