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Weinstein Interview PHCR
Weinstein Interview PHCR
Every Chicago photographer is familiar with Michael Weinstein, the photo critic
for the NewCity weekly. He is one of the city's treasures...always present at art
openings, lending a critical eye to the work and always generous with his insights
and time. Michael has an uncanny ability to contextualize work for an artist way
before the artist has articulated it for themselves. He sees deeply. In a time of
diminishing resources, when there are fewer and fewer critics, Chicago is very
lucky to have Michael in our midst!
I asked Michael if he would be willing to be interviewed for this blog post, and
he cheerfully agreed.
Here is the interview....
My practice as an art critic is what the Italian philosopher of the first half of the
twentieth century, Benedetto Croce, called "immanent criticism." By that he
meant that the critic should not come to a work or body of work with a set of
standards or values that would then be applied to judge the work, but, instead,
should seek to get inside the work and re-live it as the artist intended it to be
experienced, if at all possible. Having followed that procedure to the best of his
or her ability, the critic would then seek to express the experience of that work in
words. The way I put it is that the work is a gift given to the viewer from the
artist, and I want to honor that gift by experiencing it as much as possible as the
artist wants me to appreciate it. I would not have any interest in art if it did not
provide me with access to the vision of another person, not my own vision or a
vision that I personally prefer. Immanent criticism allows one to grow, and my
reviews are meant to help readers to grow and to provide a bridge that the readers
can cross to the work so that they can experience it for themselves.
JFA : When did you first know you were going to become an art critic?
JFA: What were the experiences and influences that led to your being an art
critic?
JFA: What have been the more challenging aspects of being an art critic?
There have been no challenging aspects of being an art critic from the get-go
until now. To me, it's pure enjoyment. What's not to enjoy about receiving and
appreciating gifts from people with visual intelligence, and then putting the
experience I have into words? I have the freedom to engage the work on its own
terms - it's always new and exciting. That's why I'm into my twenty-fourth year
of doing it.
JFA: Can you identify any shifts in your perspective as an art critic over the
years?
My perspective as an art critic has not changed a bit. Why should it? Immanent
criticism always remains the same; it shifts on its own accord from one work and
one genre to the next, always open to fresh developments and artists, always alert
to the nuances in new manifestations of an extant genre and an established artist.
JFA: How has being an art critic influenced your own photography?
In order to get into taking pictures in 1989, I chose the simplest photographic
problem that I could think of - the recording of a two-dimensional still subject in
daylight. Aaron Siskind's wall abstractions were crucial for me in showing me
how that simple problem could be worked on to get intense (at least for me)
results. It led me to graffiti, distressed sides of railroad cars, peeling posters, and
so on. I won't claim to be an accomplished photographer in the slightest, but I can
say that shooting flat subjects in open-air seclusion has led me to powerful
zenlike experiences in which vision narrows to what is in the view finder and
one's consciousness is consumed by it. At times the subject seems to become
animated and to "dance." It's a "natural high," for sure.
JFA : How would you characterize the current Chicago photographic art scene?
I have been a great lover of the Chicago photographic art scene through all the
years I've been part of it. It has always been vibrant. Grassroots galleries continue
to pop up, there are always commercial galleries showing a variety of work from
local photographers and from the four corners of the earth, there are big and little
museums, galleries in businesses, galleries in community centers, university and
college galleries - you name it. There are great people to meet if you go to
openings. There is that welcoming and open Chicago spirit. There are
independent centers of creation rather than a single establishment. When it comes
to the Chicago photographic art scene, it's "sweet home Chicago."
JFA : Now you know why Michael is such a gem. He is one of the few people I know who really
sees clearly AND lives in "sweet home Chicago!"