This article appeared in my favourite favourite newspaper City Press, unfortunately only the first page is available online, for the rest buy the hardcopy:
Art Attack with Carl Collison

‘There is so much crap art criticism out there – either it is too nice and complementary, like a bunch of people patting each other’s backs or it’s too academic, like a bunch of people patting each other’s backs.” says Robert Sloon, the mysterious enfant terrible of local art criticism and editor of the arts blog: http://artheat.blogspot.com.

Though the jury is still out on whether Robert Sloon is actually his real name (“Robert Sloon is a real person. But the mystery is fun. People are drawn to a good mystery, and it helped the site,” is all he’ll say on the matter), there can be no doubt that he has made his mark.

“I have made a splash. The scene here is not that big,” he says with pride. Sloon started the controversial website in 2006 after graduating from the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art. “I had just graduated from Michaelis, and was at a bit of a loose end as to where to go. I felt like there was a huge gap, as a young artist, like a lack of support, unless you were signed to a big gallery. I started ArtHeat as a response to this situation,” he says, adding: “Also, I looked at how the YBA’s (Young British Artists, such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin) became a massive movement in England in the ’90s. Young artists became famous because they were written about, which then got picked up by the tabloids and newspapers. I wanted to create a similar atmosphere of stardom for young artists here.”

Sloon, who does most of the writing on ArtHeat himself, eschews the usual academic writing style in favour of a more real, more accessible, less glossed over approach to art criticism. “There is so much crap criticism out there. ArtHeat’s approach has always been about engaging on a real, emotive level. Art most often isn’t nice or academic. I don’t see why critics should be.”

Sloon’s writing attests to his firm belief in this philosophy. Typical of ArtHeat’s irreverence is the ArtHeat Year End Lists, which includes categories such as Artists to Stop Watching (Tracey Payne, Mustafa Maluka, Pieter van Heerden), Shadiest Dealer in the Art World (All the dealers who are withholding money from their artists) and The One Moment That Made You Lose Faith Entirely (The disintegration of Cape 07).

It is bitingly hilarious – especially if you’re in agreement – offering respite from the dreary, self-important, exclusionary, and often uninspired art criticism we are presented with.

It’s not fun, however, if you find yourself on the receiving end of Sloon’s irreverence. In his January 28 posting, Sloon posted the piece I had written on artist, Ed Young. After an initial comment approving of my “criticiz[ing] Ed on the content of his work rather than his medium of delivering it, something which much newspaper criticism has failed to do”, he leaps into an accusatory “[o]n the other hand, a newspaper would hopefully have paid a little more respect to copyright and not plagiarized almost directly from an article on Ed on (noted local art website) Artthrob.”

Plagiarism is a damning allegation and I was furious. But my anger and frustration at this (false) statement faded after receiving Sloon’s humorous apology, via email: “[My comments might have been] hurtful, for which I apologise. I like to poke fun at the press a little, and perhaps shouldn’t have used such harsh wording! Also, and I am revealing a little secret here which I would appreciate you respect, I wrote the piece which bore the remarkable similarity, back before I started ArtHeat. So the joke really was on me.”

Not all of those on the receiving end of Sloon’s bite have taken his attacks and accusations in good spirits, though. I ask him about the rumours of the death threat that once came his way.

“I had a death threat, yes. I wrote a piece about an artist, which asked what had become of her. In the comment section of the site some people made some suggestions, which might have implied some nasty things. She found me on Long Street one day, and threatened me. It wasn’t my finest hour.”