“Taint Modern” is the first exhibition of Critique Group, which began with a mass email to local practicing artists in late summer 2009. Those artists who answered the call have since then met once a month to discuss in-progress and finished works in all visual arts media. Artists include Kelly Casey, Valerie Corradetti, Matthew Duguid, Myrna Enamorado, Laura Gipson, Holis Hannan, Rachel Jones, Matthew Kirscht, Ryan Lindburg, Ariya Martin, Jeff and Natalie Rinehart, Kathy Rodriguez, Amanda Turpen, David Webber, and Kathryn Zansler. The opening is Saturday, January 7th, at 6 p.m. at 3 Ring Circus Arts Education Center – The Big Top, 1638 Clio Street, New Orleans, LA 70130. The show runs through January 28th.

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A  Brief History of Critique Group

 

On Sunday, July 5, 2009, Matthew Kirscht and Kathy Rodriguez drafted an email to send to local practicing artists. They were a mix of acquaintances, close friends, and past studio mates.  The embarrassingly complex email detailed an idea: to form a critique group among peers, to maintain critical discussion of visual artworks after the end of their academic training.

 

The plan was to create a  “diverse group of individuals with just as diverse interests” to “generate vital art-making commentary when brought together in one room.” It was free, and open to suggestion.  Friends brought friends.  But, everyone had to bring work to discuss, or face dire consequences to be decided by other group participants.  “Work” meant at least a sketch of an idea – something concrete to discuss with the group.  We would meet twice a month on the first and third Sunday after dinner, rotating houses each time. The first meeting would be held August 2, 2009, at Matt and Kathy’s.

 

In the first two years, we met with less regularity – sometimes not even once a month - and most often at the Mothership, or the Kirscht-Rodriguez household.  In 2011 we began a standard monthly meeting, emphasizing studio visits for a more holistic approach to each artist’s work.  Not everyone was required to bring something, but everyone contributed to the conversation. The dedication was apparent without draconian rules.

 

Supportive and constructive criticism and a casual come-as-you-are atmosphere despite the threat of consequences have always characterized Critique Group. 

 

We have planned this exhibition since June of 2011, at the invitation of Kirah Haubrich and 3 Ring Circus. 

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Crit Group Manifesto

 

Together we criticize.

 

Polite pow-wow of misanthropes; confluence of outputs, outpouring of libations, alchemy and insight.

A digital cacophony that renders to an analog conversation.

 

We did it ourselves.

Critters not quitters.

 

Ragtag sophisticates.                         

We are serious.

And then there is applause.

 

I sat alone, thought about skill and pleasure and towns and fishing, then you came along.

Feeding human beings creating.

Varied extrapolations.

This is what I did, and this is what it is.

 

Exploring the gap between expectation and inadequacy we gather- to critique, to clarify, to promote, to inspire, and raise a glass to the joy of creating works of art.

 

nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana CRIT GROUP!  POW!!  (note: sing to tune of Batman)

 

……………………………………………………

 

Critgroup doubles as self help 12 step program for like minded artists who seek pre-emptive sponge bath / beatdowns before an exhibition.

 

Be as it may the crit group continues to transform its robotic manifestations through the plumes of discourse like a fire that consumes all before it or perhaps it is more of an enveloping sponge bath body massage.

 

The purpose of Taint Modern is not to be trained in the art of pretentiousness or to create disillusionment within a group of creative minds.  Rather, its goal is to illuminate the collective mind to create more powerful art by continuously reshaping problems into possibilities.

 

What we make we show and what truth, beauty, or good it contains or lacks becomes apparent through a habitual deregulation of the senses.  What laughter sparks by chance of lightning and heat formed darkness?  What prismatic spectacle of nature transforms into interior rooms of our mortal pleasurable pursuits?  What inspiration might arise from our confluence of experience brought forth from our communal gatherings some lunar calendar Sabbath?  The art in question is the answer.  The noblest critic is also the artist born from same sincerity and kindred imagination.  Apart we create.  Together we criticize!