Arthur Rimbaud Critiques Contemporary Art in Imagined Dialogue

In a fictional interview, the 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud offers sharp commentary on contemporary art. He critiques the 2014 exhibition 'The Forever Now' at MoMA, describing it as provincial and noting that reviewers focused on superficial comparisons. Rimbaud argues the paintings failed to engage with light or physical reality, instead referencing only art from Neo-expressionism onward. He singles out Rashid Johnson's work for politely referencing Jean Dubuffet and Lucio Fontana surfaces without depth. The poet contrasts these painters with critical artist Renzo Martens, whose 'Enjoy Poverty' projects in the Congo he finds brilliantly creative, though he questions the high moral ground of such work. Rimbaud also comments on artist statements, calling them bureaucratic tools for monetization, and recounts his own methods, including drug use to induce hallucinations for poetic creation. He mentions visiting exhibitions at Modern Art and Chisenhale Gallery in London, seeing works by Jonathan Meese and Caragh Thuring. The dialogue references historical figures including Paul Verlaine, Henri Fantin-Latour, and Piet Mondrian, whose 1943 letter about his artistic process is quoted. Rimbaud reiterates his famous statement 'I is an other' to describe artistic creation as a spectator of one's own thought. The piece was published in the January & February 2015 issue of ArtReview.