Art You Say?

If I picked up a paintbrush, dipped it in a can of black semigloss and painted a square on the wall, would that be art? Obviously not, even if I were extra careful not to drip. So when Russian artist Kazimir Malevich painted a black square on canvas in 1915,...

By Rick Kennedy

April 13, 2006

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

If I picked up a paintbrush, dipped it in a can of black semigloss and painted a square on the wall, would that be art? Obviously not, even if I were extra careful not to drip. So when Russian artist Kazimir Malevich painted a black square on canvas in 1915, was that art? Not only was it art, son, it was the seminal work of the Russian Suprematist school. That raises the question: "Who gets to call it art?" In the documentary film of the same name, director Peter Rosen gives us the answer: people like Henry Geldzahler, the New York Museum of Modern Art curator that first deemed Andy Warhol's soup cans exhibit-worthy. Here's another question: "Who gets to call Rosen's film 'glib, largely uninformative and poorly organized'?" That would be The New York Times. Don't let that stop you, though—if you didn't like glib, etc., you wouldn't be reading this anyway. The film, part of the Magnolia at the Modern series, is showing Friday through Sunday at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St. Tickets are $7.50. Call 817-738-9215, ext. 154, or visit themodern.org.
April 14-16

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Dallas Observer has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.