Examinations of Francis Ponge's texts on Jean Fautrier's &;Hostage Paintings,&; Jack Whitten's Memorial Paintings, and Banksy's auction stunt Love is in the Bin.This book contains three case studies on very different artists, analyzing their work through their respective historical contexts: the writer Francis Ponge (1899&;1988) and his seminal text on Jean Fautrier's &;Hostage Paintings&; from 1943; visual artist Jack Whitten's (1939&;2018) Memorial Paintings and Banksy's notorious auction stunt Love is in the Bin from 2018.
Examining all three artistic propositions from a value-theoretical point of view, Graw finds Ponge's text on Fautrier to be &;doubly materialist&; insofar as it (seemingly) reveals its own material conditions while simultaneously grasping the specific materiality of Fautrier's paintings; suggests that the indications of value in Whitten's painting to be more indirect; and reveals Banksy's value reflections to have a very different generational thrust.
Gaw shows that Ponge's text is full of value-reflexive insights but that Ponge himself is an ambivalent figure. She finds that the dedication of Whitten's paintings inscribes them in a system of exchange. And, finally, the deliberate aesthetic meagerness of Banksy's Love Is in the Bin points to an emptiness at the heart of value.
Institut für Kunstkritik series
