Art Revisionism

Thanks to William Wilson for a flattering profile (Sept. 9), but I would like to correct a few items that are somewhat embarrassing.

He wrote I was dyslexic. I am not and I never said such a thing.

While it’s true that I do not read French theory, it is not true that I don’t know anyone who does. Most of my friends do. What I said was I could think of no one who directly applied art and or social theory to their work, except some feminist artists.

Time after time when I am interviewed, no matter how much I stress the influence of my husband (John Mandel) on me during my years at CalArts, his name tends to appear in the article either not at all or in a very cursory way. I can only surmise two reasons. One is that the currency of writers lies in name recognition, so they tend to list only those names that are well known. The other is that writers tend to think that as a woman and a feminist I wouldn’t really want that fact to get around. Both these reasons lead to revisionism.

The mention was cursory especially in light of the article’s use of the art-world buzz name Baldessari to explain that I didn’t study with him.

JILL GIEGERICH

Culver City