Blah, Blah, Blah 2008

Editor: Here we have Mel Bochner's "Blah, Blah, Blah," an acrylic on canvas piece from 2008. It's...intense. Just a field of "blah" repeated over and over. What do you make of it? Curator: I'm immediately drawn to the materiality of the work. Look at how the acrylic paint is applied, thick and almost dripping. It subverts any preciousness we might associate with painting. What labor was involved, how long to meticulously hand-paint these dismissals onto canvas, when a silkscreen would accomplish the repetition faster? Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't considered the labor aspect. I was focused on the message itself, or lack thereof. Is the physical act of writing “blah” over and over again somehow significant? Curator: Absolutely. The repetition empties the word of meaning, turning it into a commodity, a readily available sound bite stripped bare of purpose. Bochner makes visible the processes inherent in art production – from the application of paint to the artist's labor in our late capitalist world. Editor: So it's a critique of...something? Curator: Possibly the superficiality of language or artistic practice or, as an iterative word-as-art, it becomes mere merchandise and decoration of a living room or office space. He’s prompting us to consider the relationship between artistic gesture and the consumerist culture. Editor: I see, it makes you think about not just *what* is represented, but *how* and *why* it's being made. Thanks, I hadn't quite pieced all that together. Curator: Exactly. It prompts reflection of the means, and modes of production – as well as the commodification – of contemporary art in general. A powerful consideration in a media-saturated world.