Guffwatch - Italian edition
January 4 2018
Picture: Gallery Luca Tommasi
A reader has sent in the below label from an exhibition in Milan of the work of American artist Peter Schuyff. It may be that something has been lost - or rather, gained - from the Italian translation. But I think you'll agree it's a prime example of art guff.
By way of a contrast, I found a good quote from Schuyff himself, describing his paintings:
A woman telephoned me and asked me, “What are your paintings about?” And I said, “Don’t worry about that now. Just be thankful they are there.” I thought about that afterwards, and that really describes to me how my paintings are about nothing. How they deal with the problem of nothing.
This reminds me of my favourite art historical quote, by Turner on Ruskin:
He sees more in my pictures than I ever intended.
This should be carved in stone over the doorways of art history departments.
