In Some Ways Lawler Is A Conceptual

Many Museums Are Drawing Audiences With Art That Is Ostensibly More Entertaining Than Stuff That Just Sits And Invites Contemplation. Interactivity, Gizmos, Eating, Hanging Out, Things That Make Noise - All Are Now The Norm, Often Edging Out Much Else.

The Place Has Had A Super-conflicted Relationship To Its Mission. In 1956, It Opened As The Museum Of Contemporary Crafts. Then In 1986 It Had A Midlife Crisis And Changed Its Name To The American Craft Museum. Then In 2002 The Name Changed Again, This Time To The Museum Of Arts And Design. Maybe In 2025 The Place Will Be Called The Designatorium. The Big Problem With A Museum Of Craft And Design Is That All Art Has Craft And Design.

It's Art That Pushes Against Psychological And Social Expectations, That Tries To Transform Decay Into Something Generative, That Is Replicative In A Baroque Way, That Isn't About Progress, And Wants To - As Walt Whitman Put It - 'contain Multitudes.'

These Days, Newish Art Can Be Priced Between $10,000 And $25,000. When I Tell Artists That A New Painting By A Newish Artist Should Go For Around $1,200, They Look At Me Like I'm A Flesh-eating Virus.

While A Large Segment Of The Art World Has Obsessed Over A Tiny Number Of Stars And Their Prices, An Aesthetic Shift Has Been Occurring. It's Not A Movement - Movements Are More Sure Of Themselves. It's A Change Of Mood Or Expectation, A Desire For Art To Be More Than Showy Effects, Big Numbers, And Gamesmanship.