INTIMATE COSMOS OR ANOTHER WORLD
Mondialisatieon is a good and a bad thing. It’s always reassuring to find something we know in another country when traveling and yet too often when we do travel, everything now seems to be the same. If you choose a hotel chain, it’s not going to look too different from one in another country. Those who love their steak can find it even in one of the Asiatic countries. I have close Korean friends and after all the years of coming to Paris - they still eat Korean food. Have artists also become « global »? Some historians feel that art should speak for itself and that there is no need to say « oh he’s Japanese » as if the nationality is going to explain the work. Remember when I spoke about Wifredo Lam - early in the piece I thought one of his works was a Picasso - how wrong I was. His roots are so engrained that obviously his art is not Parisian. Do we need to know it’s Colombian? Is nationality something which reassures the viewer? Sometimes I learn where an artist has come from and am