On critical distance

This article responds to Henry Broome's article, published in the April issue of Art Monthly, that claimed art critics problematically write as if from a detached standpoint where they should be seeking to forge social bonds. My response contends that Broome has fundamentally misrepresented what art critics do and thereby proposed diagnosed false solutions. Instead, I argue, attachment is the bedrock of art criticism and this needs to be understood in the light of aesthetics.