Spoiler Alert: James Elkins on the Art World

The comment from James Elkins is actually a bit of a spoiler for his article in the October '08 issue of Frieze, but it's still worth repeating:

"The art world is a productive mess, and that's fine if you are not interested in saying what the art means. Once you start considering the historical, philosophical and critical meaning of the work, then the art world is in a desperate mess, made even more desperate by the unblinking optimism created by markets and money. I am not calling for a return to principles, argument, rationality, effective political intervention or anything else. I am noting reasons why it does not make sense to be optimistic about the freedoms, possibilities, market values, historical position, expansion, significance or direction of current art, art history, visual studies, art crticism or art theory."

James Elkins, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Frieze October 2008