Clement Greenberg: art critic, king maker.
To those who did not agree with his controversial
and strident beliefs in Taste and Quality, his
influence died with Jackson Pollock. But to
those who agreed that Modernism was the last
defense against the encroachment of decadence,
who believed that the artist is compelled to
innovate by a responsibility to seek out the
greatest demands of a medium, and that it was a
critic’s essence to step into that new territory with
the artist and accept it, Greenberg held sway.
In his own words, and considered by five painters
not made famous by him, the reality of Greenberg -
and not simply the idea - emerges. These five
painters, Stephen Achimore, Scott Bennett, Darryl
Hughto, Mark Raush, and Susan Roth, consider
Greenberg's legacy, his direct influence on their
work, and the state of contemporary culture in
relation to modern art. Greenberg's own voice
and the voices of the five artists join footage of
each painter working in his studio with abstract
hand-painted film to construct a story about belief,
ambition, and the search for greatness.
