Carol Vogel has come out in support of Marlene Dumas! In her NYTimes Venice Biennial overview she remarks that the Italian pavilion "is showing masters like Francis Bacon, Agnes Martin, Marlene Dumas and Philip Guston alongside younger artists."
And in today's Globe & Mail Biennial coverage Sarah Milroy writes "and the canvases of Marlene Dumas marked her as the best of the living painters on show".
ANTI-DUMAS:
Charlie Finch,Tyler Green, Richard Polsky, Jerry Saltz
PRO-DUMAS:
Nicole Davis, Nicole Eisenmann, Joy Garnett, Cynthia King, Sarah Milroy, Adrian Searle, Richard Vine, Carol Vogel
It is worth noting that of the pro-Dumas people more than half are women; all of the anti-Dumasers are men. Maybe there is something to a previous commenter's accusations of sexism after all. Also notable is that half of the pros are artists and there are no artists among the antis.
The anti-Marlene Dumas dudes are starting to look more and more like an Artnet circle-jerk. At least Saltz has been consistent, his dislike goes all the way back to 1993 and is actually stated in an article on painting, not a throw-away line in an article on the market like the evaluations of the other three.
I think marlene's work is spot fricken ON! I've loved her painting since I saw it first at Jack Tilton gallery in 1994. Thank you for pointing out that it's artists that like her painting. Maybe people who don't paint don't get that what she does is REALLY HARD. There is something about her touch which is so elegant, under the awkward. I'd call it Ugly Elegance
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