by on artists & celebrity
Poking around in my bookmarked “articles to re-read”, I was taken in once again by this Guardian interview of JG Ballard about a year ago. His thoughts on today’s art scene struck a chord with me:
Today’s art scene? Very difficult to judge, since celebrity and the media presence of the artists are inextricably linked with their work. The great artists of the past century tended to become famous in the later stages of their careers, whereas today fame is built into the artists’ work from the start, as in the cases of Emin and Hirst.
There’s a logic today that places a greater value on celebrity the less it is accompanied by actual achievement. I don’t think it’s possible to touch people’s imagination today by aesthetic means. Emin’s bed, Hirst’s sheep, the Chapmans’ defaced Goyas are psychological provocations, mental tests where the aesthetic elements are no more than a framing device.
It’s interesting that this should be the case. I assume it is because our environment today, by and large a media landscape, is oversaturated by aestheticising elements (TV ads, packaging, design and presentation, styling and so on) but impoverished and numbed as far as its psychological depth is concerned.
Moving off topic, I want to learn more about the author and discover there’s a lot of material on Ballard to sift through, but Answers has a nice summary. JG Ballard is the author of numerous books, including Empire of the Sun, which was made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is one of my favourites that I’ve seen twice. Amazingly, the early part of the story has autobiographical elements and makes me want to see this very powerful and moving film again. (Maybe I should read the book too, something I don’t like to do AFTER seeing the film.)
June 14, 2005 in Being an Artist, Books, Culture, Films by Marja-Leena
Marja- Leena, now a comment to your topic. Yes he observed very sharp (I mean we know very well ourselfs, whats quality or not, and whats hype)
But, I think “really it’s possible to touch people’s imagination today by aesthetic means.” Emin’s bed- was !very aestehtic ! Hirst’s sheep !too!, the Chapmans’ — well for me is it crap. To measure with Goya- senseless, and failed 150%
Their addition of violence, its just gamy, its not real. There was a Flatz much better and radical, not just “a smoke of could be violence”.
Art can only work and last via Aestethic. Anti or not.
For our Media- Environment: It does not reach an artist and other sensefulls folks anymore, and its completly boring, because mainly made from No-artists 😉 Real art can not be made as a campaign, and that need to understand a lot of “successful” Artists. When it becomes a campaign, then it starts to bore (like last various comments on Hirst) better then to work for a while in a bread factory or as a taxi driver to recollect energy. That would also confuse the Art Market, as imagine, if Gursky or Neo Rauch would stop for 6 or 7 years, and then “surprizingly” show up again…
I think Ballard is trying to say that it is this artificial “Art Market” that has chosen to make certain artists “celebrities”, whether their work is aesthetically art or not. By doing so, that art market just becomes part of the media frenzy and excessive commercialization in our society today. Aesthetics aren’t so important as “celebrity”.
I love JG Ballard! I’ve read “Empire of the Sun” several times and I own the DVD which is one of my all time favorites.
I agree very much with what he had to say about art and celebrity, they go hand and hand…like the advice I was reading a book (I can’t remember the name) about how to be successful in art and it had things like “move to NYC”, “date a celebrity”, & “It helps to be young and attractive”… oh boy, this is all such useful advice!
On another note, when I was in the 5th or 6th grade I asked my art teacher (who was my favorite) if he thought my work was good enough that I could become famous someday and he said something like “I with your personality you could be”…
I wasn’t sure how to take that. I’m still not sure.
Oh Elise, that advice from the book sounds like it’s for someone aiming to be a movie or pop celebrity!
From my own experience and observations, I notice it helps to be a schmoozer, to be able to talk to people who are connected in the art world. It’s who you know…sometimes.
How is the printmaking scene different or similar to the “celebrity” art scene? I know a lot of celebrity artists are welcomed into printshops and the master printmakers collaborate with them, but are there any celebrity printmakers (fully trained printmakers) these days?
Hi Amber! Good questions! I don’t know if there are any “celebrity” printmakers. Prints don’t always get the status of paintings and sculpture. Nowadays film/media arts and installation art tend be the stars.
Does anyone reading this know of any “celebrity” printmakers? There are some very well-known printmakers but most of them worked for some time to achieve recognition eg. Rauschenburg, Kiki Smith, and others, and their work is recognized as art – and I would not call them “celebrities” in the article’s suggested context. (I do dislike that word.)
Marja-Leena, may you always have the satisfaction of creating your work with a clear mind, away from the noisy fashionistas and advertisers.
The joy and respect I feel when I look at your images (I really do like them a lot) has something to do, I think, with the purity of your pursuit.
Not that you avoid recognition for your work (I’m sure you’ve won awards), but that the pursuit of “celebrity” isn’t, and could never be, the driving force behind these images.
These prints, to my eyes, get their life from our distant ancestors, those earliest of mark-makers. But I also see here a certain feeling for “the North” with its isolations and the intensities of experience that comes out of that vast, challenging physical environment. And, I presume, biographical details play a big role in it too.
As a practicing artist, I’m sure you know the struggle involved in making something “true” out of these elements.
Well, I hope you also know that, very often, you succeed.
Oh Abdul-Walid, What truly wonderful, kind and beautiful words here, that melt my heart and moisten my eyes! I feel breathless reading this, and feel very honoured that you have taken the the time to look at my work so thoughtfully and responded so positively to it. Thank you! They mean a lot to me coming from the creative and warm person that you are.
I hope you know, too, that your beautiful and heartfelt writing and photography on your blog always inspires me and leaves me often quite speechless and unable to respond without sounding inane. I’m so happy to have met you. This blogosphere is wonderful, isn’t it?