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].