We Were - We Were the Youth of a Nation:

We are not a lost generation.

So, Saltz thought that the Venice Biennale had a weak showing. There could be multiple factors involved other than the artists have hero envy towards their teachers.  Maybe the curators had an off week?

One of the comments suggested that maybe the lackluster showing was due to grad students going straight into teaching and possibly don’t take the time to fully develop their own work. Could it be that their teachers didn’t push them enough? I was kind of shocked to realize that no one through my undergrad degree really challenged me and asked why I was doing what I was doing. No one (except one) really asked about my voice or what I was trying to say with my art. I just went through assignments. Due to the education part of my degree I didn’t have to take some of the upper level art classes, and I was trying to get out of there – so I didn’t. I didn’t make much art after I graduated, either – there were no assignments!

Frances Stark – The overall theme I get from her work is loneliness. Isolated figures and cold whiteness are repeating themes. It’s depressing. In fact she was so lonely and isolated that she had to go online, have virtual orgies with strangers and make simplistic Lego’s videos out of it. AND she said it taught her how to write again. I like some of her imagery due to is elegance and simplicity. She looses me when she starts making flower collages, though.

Christian Marclay – Art about time and sound. It is very thought provoking. I enjoyed how his video pulled some old time movie scenes in order to provide a time reference for every minute of the day. The one thing that I did think was amusing - I was watching an interview over his work and there was a clock on the wall behind the lady that was giving her statement. I LOL’d. I didn’t watch much of the sound stuff, though.

Back to the lost generation thing – all of our Great-Great-Grandparents thought that our

Grandparents were going to be the ruin of the nation. Now our Grandparents are saying that our kids will never amount to anything. When you look at the state of things in America now you REALLY have to wonder if they were right. What light isn’t shed on is the truly beautiful and good things that are coming out of our generation. It’s not sensational enough, I guess.