Francesco Bonami.
I can do the same! Why Contemporary Art is Really Art
A world-renowned curator explains how to enjoy contemporary art.
Francesco Bonami is a curator, an art critic, a writer, an editor of the journal Flash Art. He was a curator at the 50th Venice Biennale, the European Biennale of Contemporary Art “Manifesta 3” in Ljubljana and many solo and group exhibitions.
Each of us, looking at works of modern art, at least once in his life thought: "I can do this too!" Nevertheless, critics claim that these works are masterpieces, and collectors spend astronomical sums to acquire them. Is it art at all?
Francesco Bonami – one of the world’s most famous curators suggests that we approach this question without prejudice. He explains with humour and in an easy-going manner the difference between an outstanding artist and a bad one, interprets the long-lasting popularity of Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol and illuminates the mystery of art pricing. And although it may appear to us that art has drastically changed during the past century, Francesco Bonami convinces us that it is the same good old art and nothing else.
Art is not something divine but, rather, something very human. We do not become more intimate with it after some initiation rite, and the critics are not its high priests. A critic is the same kind of person as you and I. It’s simply that they have made a career from their curiosity and their burning interest.
– Francesco Bonami