That headline sounds pretty simple, obvious even. But in a once radically new digital age now morphing into the even more unpredictable era of AI, neither words nor art can be taken as the given that both once were. When I first began publishing back in the 1980s everything was printed, and reading — about visual art! — was a foregone conclusion. Today I see my generation as a bridge from a now historical era that spanned the five centuries after Johannes Gotenberg to a very different new culture driven by forces that have only just begun to take shape. Far from retiring into some nostalgic reverie, I see this as a key moment in which what was best about the Good Old Days, both for art and the written word, must inform both the content and the ethos of a new age.
That is why the three of us have decided to dedicate ourselves to the revitalization of SFBA art journalism, particularly art critical reviews of public exhibitions and commentary about the art world’s place in today’s society. We must have both, but both must change and adapt to the new conditions.
Our first mission is that for which our personal passion and professional experience is naturally suited: art critical discourse. Focused as we are on the SFBA, SqC is very much a regional platform. For it to succeed, first and foremost, SqC’s writing must be stellar, and it must reflect a Bay Area visual art culture that exercises an aesthetic force that cannot be overlooked or underappreciated, but at the same time must not be allowed to sink into a self-congratulatory mediocrity.
Journalism of the kind we seek to foster is dedicated to high level discussion of issues that Bay Area galleries and museums offer the public every month, every week, every day. The art is the driving force because that is where your own imagination gets sparked, it is where your own personal expansion of mind, heart, and spirit takes place. The role of art is a very distinctive, if relatively small, part of the cultural mix, the political mix, and yes the economic mix. It has a powerful tincture, but gets dismissed in the context of the far larger creatures in the forest. It is the scampering mammal avoiding the crushing force of a dinosaur’s heel. And it guides us into our future in ways that nothing else can.
We love it here. Kind of safe and protected in our cultural cocoon, but also acutely aware of patterns and tendencies out in the big world that allow us to observe it from 10,000 feet up. We are particularly excited to deal with the SFBA art world as it is, as it is right now. How does it measure up in comparison to other regional art centers, but also those cities core to the international circuit? That question serves as the backdrop to every exhibition presented in nearly 150 venues year ‘round. That adds up to a whole lot of creativity.
Today we also aspire to something beyond the pleasures and challenges of art and art criticism. Under the current fascist regime all of the rights that we have accepted as a given for 250 years are at risk, including the most basic as described in Article 1 of our Constitution: the rights to free expression and free speech. SquareCylinder will operate in solidarity with all of the artists and venues who treasure and depend on those freedoms. Our mutual mission is not just to resist their erosion but to expand on them. The layered network that makes our cultural community vital will not yield on this, no not one single inch.
