Life and Career
He began teaching at the California Institute of the Arts in 1973, along with other influential artist-professors like John Baldessari, Judy Chicago and Allan Kaprow. His "post-studio art" course consisted of intensive group critiques that can focus on a single work for eight hours or more. His Writings, 1973–1983, on Works 1969-1979, co-authored by the art historian Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, was published by The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Chapter 2 of Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton is set in Asher's Post-Studio Crit class. Thornton describes the Crit as a "rite of passage" for the students and as the artist's "most influential" work - "an institutional critique that reveals the limits of the rest of the curriculum."
Having been on medical leave from CalArts since 2008, Asher died Sunday, October 14, 2012 after a long illness. He was 69.
Read more about this topic: Michael Asher (artist)
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