The Cult of the Avant-Garde Artist [Donald Kuspit]

[Avant-Garde] [Cultic Behavior] [Narcissism]

The Cult of the Avant-Garde Artist

Donald Kuspit

Cambridge University Press, New York, 1994. First Paperback Edition.

Corners dinged, some rubbing to the front cover, penciled in notes and dog-eared pages, well loved. Good.

I know some of you are avant-garde freaks, so why not self-analyze?

From the publisher:

“Donald Kuspit examines the philosophical, psychological and aesthetic premises for avant-garde art and its subsequent evolution and corruption in the late twentieth century. Arguing that modernist art is essentially therapeutic in intention, both towards self and society, Donald Kuspit further posits that neo-avant-garde, or post-modern art at once mocks and denies the possibility of therapeutic change.”

Mocking? Denying the possibility of therapeutic change?? Sign me up!! Seriously, for the noise head, performance artist, etc. this book is a pretty invigorating read.