High Praise for the Banal

Is it any surprise that almost no one takes contemporary art seriously anymore? Artists create utterly inane, inconsequential little baubles, exhibiting no imagination, no taste (not even bad taste!) and no craft, only for critics like David Pagel to praise them to the skies.

Take the show by Andrea Bowers at the Goldman Tevis Gallery, which I recently went to see (“Thrilling and Shiny, Bowers’ Works Resonate,” Feb. 25). Her work consisted of nothing more than small images of celebrities pasted onto a cheap silvery background, along with equally vacuous videos of people singing karaoke. Pagel found these plainly presented videos to “simultaneously stimulate and satisfy desire.” What desire could possibly be engaged by this except the desire not to go to any more karaoke bars?

Pagel says this work of “gritty generosity” lays to rest the entire “European idea that art must be original.” The only thing this show lays to rest is the tradition that art critics ought to be thoughtful and insightful.

WALTER IMPERT

Glendale