AGAINST DESIGN reveals the extent to which old ideas and small accomplishments captivate much of today's art world. The exhibited works -- most of them suggesting the offerings at Home Base and IKEA, but all of them based on "appropriation" -- come with long-winded explanations and narratives which attempt to explain how and why they constitute "art."

For all the verbiage they demand, they offer little compensation in the way of visual pleasure which might make the effort of "getting it" seem worthwhile. This art appears to deliberately pursue the trivial, and the artists certainly find it.

Clay Ketter, "Billy-Bob," 1999

The exhibition is on view at the La Jolla headquarters of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego through May 30. It originated at the Institute of Contemporary Art, in Philadelphia. Curating was Steven Beyer. Intervening stops include the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

The show presents 33 works by 10 artists from the United States and an other countries. It exemplifies the central character of much of the art being produced and exhibited these days at the most serious levels of the art world.