As a senior at GW, I am accustomed to a certain level of journalistic incompetence from The Hatchet, particularly in the area of arts reporting. But as a fine arts major nearing graduation, I was dismayed by the ignorance displayed in The Hatchet’s recent feature on First Friday, the monthly D.C. “gallery-hopping” ritual (Feb. 12, p.6).
The criticisms, concerning unnamed works by unnamed artists, managed to sound both vague and philistine. Phrases like “just a bunch of paint splashed across the canvas” and “enjoy the abstractness of modern art” do not belong in informed arts reportage.
I do not have the space or the time to compile the various grammatical oddities that abounded throughout the piece, and apparently The Hatchet’s editors were not concerned with these, either. I am heartened that The Hatchet is devoting space to covering fine arts in the D.C. area, but articles such as this – or the recent review of the Corcoran’s Warhol show, whose summary observation amounted to “Warhol was weird.” – foster the unfortunate and false impression that GW is a cultural backwater.
-Ian Whitmore
senior
