I am against
general ideas
the nude
the appropriation of images
the mystification of the untitled
the glorification of artistic doubt
the fuzzy edges of sensitivity
old sins
and useless guilt
| Notes on the Private versus | the Public |
| the individual vs | the group |
| the artist | the (his/her) public |
| the studio space | the gallery space |
| the working conditions | the exposition situations |
| the time of execution (maturation?) | the time of consumption (temporality) |
| the intimicy of the snapshot | the posed official photograph |
| the referential aspect of ‘realist’ figuration | the general appeal of abstraction (nonhistorical) |
| the specific | the universal |
| THE NAKED | THE NUDE |
| private problems | public media |
| private solutions | political disasters |
| the confession | the TV talkshow |
| (the interview in a gossipcolumn or newspaper) | |
| the intentions of the artist | the ‘explanations’ of the critic (promotion or put down) |
| private embarrassment | public jokes |
| Don’t talk to strangers | |
| the body as problem vs | the body as privilege |
| the male sex as opposition | the male sex as equal (equally vulnerable) |
The Private versus the Public. First published in Marlene Dumas (cat.), Art and Project | Galerie Paul Andriesse | Van Krimpen | The Living Room, Amsterdam, 1987; and included in Marlene Dumas, Sweet Nothings. Notes and Texts, first edition Galerie Paul Andriesse and De Balie Publishers Amsterdam, 1998; and second edition (revised and expanded) Koenig Books London, 2014 [Notes on the Private versus the Public was handwritten on a leaflet handed out separately during the show, together with Notes on my Text and No more Interviews].