The Turn to Provisionality in Contemporary Art: Negative Work

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In his influential essay Provisional Painting, Raphael Rubinstein applied the term provisional to contemporary painters whose work looked intentionally casual, dashed-off, tentative, unfinished or self-cancelling; who appeared to have deliberately turned away from "strong" painting for something that seemed to constantly risk failure or inconsequence. In this collection of essays, Rubinstein expands the scope of his original article by surveying the historical and philosophical underpinnings of provisionality in recent visual art, as well as examining the works of individual artists in detail. He also engages crucial texts by Samuel Beckett and philosopher Gianni Vattimo. Re-examining several decades of painting practices, Rubinstein argues that provisionality, in all its many forms, has been both a foundational element in the history of modern art and the encapsulation of an attitude that is profoundly contemporary.

Reviews

[This book] is a fascinating study in skeptical digression. The author has managed to erect a transparent monument to the inescapable paradox of thought thinking itself, which makes for itself the most interesting of art. -- Tom McGlynn * The Brooklyn Rail *
Developed over several years in a series of provocative and convincing essays, Raphael Rubinstein's concept of provisionality in art encompasses a wide swath of U.S. and European artists who have been redefining painting. Philosophers, theorists and other critics are heard from, too. It's a terrific book. * Elizabeth C. Baker, Editor-at-Large, Art in America, USA *

Author Bio

Raphael Rubinstein is Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Houston, USA. He is a New York based art critic and in 2002, the French government presented him with the award of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2010, his blog The Silo won a Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. In 2014 The Silo was given a Best Blog Award of Excellence by the International Association of Art Critics. In April 2017, The Miraculous: Houston, a public-art installation by artist and wife Heather Bause Rubinstein, based on his book The Miraculous, debuted as part of the CounterCurrent Festival.