The job of the critic is simple: to attend to the work, to reflect, and to respond. As one responds to a flower, a rainy day, or a foul odor; to feel before we think. Because criticism, as Susan Sontag famously argued, can allow us to “See more, Hear more, Feel more.”
Art is, first and foremost.
We approach criticism with a radical, open awareness and an intention to help us all recover our senses.
Unfortunately, because of the consolidation of the corporate media landscape and defunding of the arts, many of the outlets that once published this type of writing in the United States no longer exist. And for those few places that still publish this type of criticism, it's locked behind paywalls.
In Review Magazine of New York is a free online journal featuring original art and literary criticism, essays, short stories, poems, puzzles, and visual art.
