Bruce Yonemoto

Note: This is not a view of the current installation at S.L.A.M.

When I am looking at Contemporary Art , I always ask myself two questions; 1. Does the artwork have art historical context?, and 2. Is the concept fully realized and does it engage multi-lateral thinking? Generally speaking, if the answers to both those questions are “yes”, then I enjoy the piece. Conversely, all of the old, art concepts, such as beauty, execution, style, and objecthood, are usually irrelevant, having been usurped by conceptualism during Post-Modernism. And, as Al Held once said, “All conceptual art is just pointing at things.” Nonetheless, this write-up is on American photographer, Bruce Yonemoto, whose current work easily surpasses even my strict criteria for what great art is.

Up now at the St. Louis Art Museum, as part of the Currents Series, Yonemoto has installed a video work, and two, photo-based series. I will concentrate on the two, photo-based collections, but the video is a compelling and controversial piece, which relates back to the two, photo series. The volume of thought, which all of this work comprises, is impressive, and I recommend that everyone who has access to the museum go and see it.

More after the jump: