Ep. #132: Thomas Micchelli of Hyperallergic on the nuances of art reviewing

Artist and Hyperallergic writer and editor Thomas Micchelli talks about: His working class roots in New Jersey; how his busy life (full-time job, making his art, seeing shows, writing and editing for Hyperallergic Weekend) keeps him from time-consuming ‘social’ conversations; how the most gratifying feedback he gets on his writing is when an artist says that he’s “got” their work; how he doesn’t see himself as someone who makes judgments in his reviews but rather as someone who explores his personal reaction; how Jeff Koons’ retrospective at the Whitney showed a total concession to the market, and why; other topics include the artist Judith Bernstein and her late-in-life re-emergence as an artist of consequence in NY after decades in the wilderness treated like a pariah; the late, legendary Italian filmmaker, artist and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini – a gay communist atheist at a time when being gay in Italy was illegal – who made one of the darkest films ever: Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom; the most memorable review he’s written (also his hardest to write); the fact that he’s most drawn to abstraction as a viewer (because it comes down to his interest in formal issues, and abstraction lays them out in very stark terms), despite being a figurative painter himself; and how growing up working class led him to making figurative art as opposed to abstraction. The Conversation's website: http://theconversationpod.com/ Please subscribe to The Conversation on iTunes, and leave a positive review: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/conversation-artist-podcast/id481461646 The Conversation on Stitcher (the alternative to iTunes): http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wwwstitchercompodcasttheconversation/the-conversation-art-podcast?refid=stpr The Conversation on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Conversation-An-Artist-Podcast/254884424579431 http://instagram.com/artistpodcast Twitter: @artistpodcast Your support of the podcast is very much appreciated- donations can be made via the website, and help keep the show going.