Last Thursday in Buckman auditorium Rhodes was visited by renown a humerous and witty Chicago educator, critic, essayist and media commentator on visual arts, James Yood. He is currently faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in the School of Art History, Criticism and Theory and is active as a contemporary art critic and essayist for Artforum and temaceleste, and a regular contributor to GLASS magazine, American Craft, Aperture, and Art and Auction.
His visit was especially pertinent to the Memphis art and culture pulse because he addressed what in means to be an artist in the "void" of middle-America in a New York-centric country. As a critic and a member of the midwestern art community himself, Yood often examines the significance of place in art making and interpretation. "Art-making is social not personal" he said, artists "respond to their surroundings and the people in them". This is why art made in Chicago is different from and misunderstood by the estranged but dominating art communities of Los Angeles and New York. Midwestern art is equally if not more important to the American experience than art from New York or L.A. no matter how marginalized they currently are. I really appreciated Yoods hopeful and unashamed commentary on embracing one's own place. An artist from the midwest can never make great art if he aims to make art for New York, he must embrace his "place". "Place sculpts artistic vision!"
As you can probably, tell the talk was heated and controversial, but well received by the memphis art community's ears. I think we just need more people like Yood out there letting people know that midwestern art isn't bad, its just different and the eastern and western poles of america just can't get it.
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