Art and Language (For Jimmie Durham)

The problem with writing about art is that artworks resist words. Like climate protesters resist policemen who want to remove them by force. Even if, as Jean Genet observed, those policemen have very desirable hairy legs.Sometimes, words get too close for comfort. 

They wrap themselves tightly around the work of art and take its breath away. They leave nothing but a lifeless husk. They strangle the life out of it. 

At other times, words hover above the work of art like a drone Trying to get a really good look at it but only managing a bird’s eye view. That reveals nothing very important. They shower the artwork with pointless explanations, leaving everyone less the wiser. Occasionally, words snuggle up to an artwork, showering it with praise.  

They flatter it with gushing compliments. The work of art gets all puffed up and then gets deflated,  Uncertain about whether the words were really sincere and meant what they said. Occasionally, words snuggle up to an artwork, showering it with praise.  

They flatter it with gushing compliments. The work of art gets all puffed up and then gets deflated, Uncertain about whether the words were really sincere and meant what they said. Too often, words just like the sound of their own voice. They pontificate at length showing off how clever they are. They assume an air of tacit superiority, confident that words always trump artworks. Words can be too nosey, poking their nose where it shouldn’t be. They pry into the artwork’s private life, disclosing intimate information about Who made it, how they made it and even why they made it

They can’t help themselves.

They can’t let the artworks be artworks.

They can’t admit that, in the end, artworks don’t need them.

© Gilane Tawadros, 2021.

'Art and Language’ was first published in Jimmie Durham: Festschrift (edited by Maria Thereza Alves), Nero, 2020.