Originally published December 21, 2009
"... About the power of the October crew--there are the practical, effective maneuverings that Rob Storr describes in his Frieze essay and then there is the much more important power the Octoberists wielded by offering such a seductive model to the inhabitants of art institutions everywhere. ... See, more seductive because it offered clear guidance to the exercise of art-world power--the power, first, to define the canon, to write the list of relevant artists, and the power, second, to establish the "correct" interpretations of these artists. Many critics, curators, and historians resisted the October model. But many did not, choosing, instead, to embrace it with the grateful relief of those who had been looking for guidance from an overbearing authority and, in the October dogma, found it. ... Just so that there is no confusion on anyone's part, I am against the October dogma--"painting is dead" and all the rest of it."
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