ART, WHATEVER IT TAKES

Since the early pandemic in 2020, Rome Art Program has conducted a series of interviews, “Art, Whatever It Takes.”
Artists, Art Critics, and Art Historians living in Italy, the U.S., and U.K., share their insights during these powerful times.

Interview with John Yau

John Yau is a poet, critic, curator, based in New York,  publisher of Black Square Editions, which is dedicated to poetry, fiction, translation, and essays.  He is an editor of the online magazine, Hyperallergic Weekend.  John has written or contributed to forthcoming monographs on Helen Pashgian, William Tillyer, Richard Hunt, and Liu Xiaodong.

RAP: What is your definition of “art” today?

John Yau: I don’t have a definition of art. Some days I think I have one, but it slips away from me.

RAP: Art is dynamic and regenerates itself… how does it change, and how did it change us?

John: New materials, methods, deep pockets of money have changed the possibilities.

RAP: When (and how) did you understand that art was becoming very important in your life?

John: When I was a child, maybe 6 or 7, my mother began taking me to the Museum of Fine Arts every weekend. The first painting to make a deep impression on me was La Japonaise (1876) by Claude Monet. It is a full-length portrait of his wife Camille Doncieux wearing a Japanese kimono, standing in front of a wall decorated by Japanese fans. As a biracial child, that painting spoke to me, as it showed someone existing in two spaces simultaneously and not fitting into either.

RAP: What role does art play today? What are the “great figures” who have recently changed it? Do you feel close to any of these figures?

John: I think strong art shows us what we have not looked at, not seen, or have felt comfortable ignoring. Among the many, many artists who have done that, I would include Kerry James Marshall, Nicole Eisenman, Thomas Nozkowski (1944-2019), Leda Catunda, William Kentridge, Kathy Butterly, Martin Puryear, Philip Taaffe, Lois Dodd, Robert Grosvenor, Haegue Yang, David Hammons, Liu Xiaodong, Luis Jiménez (1940-2006), and Catherine Murphy. I have written about almost all of these artists and feel close to a number of them.

RAP: Are there still traditional figures such as collectors, muses, mecenate and patrons, in today’s art and society interaction model?

John: I believe all the figures on this list still exist and play a role and I have chosen to have little or no interaction with any of them.

RAP: How have the new technologies and media culture changed art today, improving or worsening it…? What do you feel are your biggest challenges?

John: I think new technologies and media culture has helped art become known to a wider audience and to different audiences. Word of mouth works differently with the Internet. My biggest challenge is know what is going on and to see for myself. This is always the challenge. Every culture has its conventions, and one must try and see both past and through them.

RAP: Art as a mirror of man, in this moment of emergency seems to be shattered …what do these fragments reflect now?… Shadow or light of the moment?

John: We are in a crucial state defined by multiple crises and convulsions. There is art that considers that fact and art that ignores it in pursuit of self-aggrandizement and distraction.

RAP: Understanding, interpreting, and then possibly judging the work of art; which is the right path when we are in front of a piece of art?

John: There have been many right and rather rigid paths that have been defined since the end of World War II, each with their leaders and adherents. I think one must learn to see for oneself, even if no one agrees with you. Learning how to see is a process that does not end until you do.

RAP: Which is the real role of Academies and Art schools today? What can artists learn from these institutions today?

John: I think art schools and academies are where communities are started and legacies are continued. There are positives and negatives to this.

RAP: Art too has undergone a complex process of globalization; can having an authentic and genuine style be an advantage or a drag for an artist?

John: I am interested in artists who do not brand themselves, while dealing with the particulars of their circumstances, whatever they may be.

RAP: How do Art Galleries and Museums position themselves today, and, in your opinion, how should they?

John: There are many kinds of galleries in New York, and they are spread out through out the city, its five boroughs. They all contribute to the delicious cacophony known as art. I am particularly interested in galleries that show artists who are not darlings of the marketplace.

RAP: “Figuration” vs “Abstraction”. Which of the two is better descriptive of the period we live in? Which one will have a better future?

John: We live in a figurative period. I do not predict the future.

RAP: Today we often speak of “emerging artists”; what advice based on your experience do you feel you can give to young artists?

John: Learn to think and see for yourself without closing yourself off.

RAP: Art as a lens for reading the present, can it modify the space and time we pass through? …will art save us?

John: Kerry James Marshall is one artist of a number of artists who has changed how we see art, and how we see art that museums collected and displayed. In doing so, he invited viewers to see the world and culture differently. Liu Xiaodong is another artist who has done that. There is never just one artist that does this, and each one that does reveals only a part of the present and its cover-ups. I don’t know that it will save us, but it can enhance our lives.