In “The Trouble with Writing” Charles Harrison describes the work of Art and Language with an avowed sense of suspicion for the literary:
Much of the work of Art &
Language is written. Some of
this writing has been hung on
walls or stuck on walls, some
painted on walls, or printed on
paintings, or stuck to paintings.
Some of it has been published
in books and catalogs and
journals. But none of it wears
the costume of literature. It is
artists’ writing.1
I wonder if Frameworks (Art & Language, 1966–1967) with its famously “identified and defended” column of air is as unliterary as Harrison suggests? Much as I admire Harrison’s critical writing, I can’t help
Bibliography
Apter, Emily , “Out of the Closet: Mary Kelly’s Corpus (1984–1985),” in: Art Journal 54:1 (1995), pp. 66–70.
Art & Language (Mel Ramsden, Charles Harrison, Michael Baldwin), “On Painting,” in: Tate Papers 1 (2004), http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/01/on-painting, date of access: 17 Sept. 2018.
Bernstein, Charles , “The Response as Such: Words in Visibility,” in: M/E/A/N/I/N/G 9 (1991), pp. 3–8.
Browne, Laynie, “A Conceptual Assemblage. An Introduction,” in: Laynie, Browne et al., eds., I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women. Los Angeles, ca: Les Figues Press, 2011, pp. 14–17.
Buchloh, Benjamin H. D. , “Spero’s Other Traditions,” in: Catherine de Zegher , ed., Inside the Visible: An Elliptical Traverse of 20th Century Art. Cambridge, ma: MIT Press, 1995, pp. 239–244.
Felshin, Nina , et al., “Women’s Work: A Lineage, 1966–1994,” in: Art Journal, 54:1 (1995), pp. 71–85.
Goldsmith, Kenny /Craig Dworkin , Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2011.
Harrison, Charles , “The Trouble with Writing,” in: Conceptual Art and Painting: Further Essays on Art & Language. Cambridge, ma, London: MIT Press, 2001, pp. 3–34.
Howe, Susan , “Sorting Facts; or, Nineteen Ways of Looking at Marker,” in: Charles Warren , ed., Beyond Document: Essays on Nonfiction Film. Hanover, ct: Wesleyan University Press, 1996, pp. 295–343.
Keller, Lynn , “An Interview with Susan Howe,” in: Contemporary Literature 36:1 (1995), pp. 1–34.
Kelly, Mary , Imaging Desire. Cambridge, ma: MIT Press, 1996.
Kelly, Mary , Post-Partum Document. Berkeley, ca: University of California Press, 1999 [1983].
Lippard, Lucy , “Foreword,” in: Mary Kelly , Post-Partum Document. Berkeley, ca: University of California Press, 1999 [1983], pp. xi–xvi.
Olsen, Redell , ‘This One is For You’ and ‘Not, A Conceptual Poetics’ are quoted in this essay. ‘Not, A Conceptual Poetics’ was first published in I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women. Los Angeles, ca: Les Figues Press, 2011.
Schor, Mira , “Women’s Work: A Lineage, 1966–1994,” in: Art Journal 54:1 (1995), p. 76.
Schor, Mira , Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture. Durham, nc: Duke University Press, 1997.
Charles Harrison, “The Trouble with Writing,” in: Conceptual Art and Painting: Further Essays on Art & Language. Cambridge, MA, London: MIT Press, 2001, pp. 3–34: here p. 3.
Charles Bernstein, “The Response as Such: Words in Visibility,” in: M/E/A/N/I/N/G 9 (1991), pp. 3–8: here: p. 6.
Nina Felshin et al., “Women’s Work: A Lineage, 1966–1994,” in: Art Journal, 54:1 (1995), pp. 71–85: here p. 71.
Lucy Lippard, “Foreword,” in: Mary Kelly, Post-Partum Document. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999 [1983], pp. xi–xvi: here p. xiv.
Mira Schor, Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997, p. 210.
Susan Howe, “Sorting Facts; or, Nineteen Ways of Looking at Marker,” in: Charles Warren, ed., Beyond Document: Essays on Nonfiction Film. Hanover, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1996, pp. 295–343: here p. 300.
Cf. Lynn Keller, “An Interview with Susan Howe,” in: Contemporary Literature 36:1 (1995), pp. 1–34: here p. 27.
