Art for Art’s Sake and “Self Graffitiing”
In the end, every writer and artist has to face the misused and abused concept of “art for art’s sake.” In the end, are we creating to amuse ourselves (inform ourselves, if you want to be more positive) or are we “communicating” something whether it be questions, beauty, or our positions? Beauty is out of style in the fine art museums who now opt for communicating questions and/or commenting on the history of art to other insiders. This leaves a huge world of art “outside” the establishment, where the phrase “I like what I like” is relevant even if it sounds a bit defensive.
The issue of economics is invoked though not wholly relevant. Yes, people will shell out money (even big bucks) for art they “like” even if that art at the time it was made was an unappreciated exercise in “art for art’s sake”– an individual’s creative journey. A gross example would be Van Gogh. Yes, he wanted to make money (or rather his brother wanted to make money for him), but his main interest was getting it down, the vision thing, what he was pursuing. Many of the early experimenters in modern art (Picasso et al) struggled with the issue of “beauty” (portraits or landscapes recognized and appreciated immediately) versus the issue of pursuing of an artistic path.
Many movements such as Cubism and Futurism were attempts to use art as a kind of exploration of consciousness. Some of their products we still might see now as “beautiful” but their value is largely determined by the historical placement of the artist who painted them. Picasso’s least successful “experiments” are still valued highly because he in essence became a brand. The unknown artist who produced cubist works which may or may not be valuable (or only valuable as part of an historical movement) more than any inherent beauty in the works.
I recently showed some of my new paintings to a collector (a friend of the family) who owns a decent amount of valuable prints: Picassos, Lindners, Dubuffets, Dines. Nice stuff. I was taken aback by his critique of my work. “If you took out these parts…” He indicated a third of the content, the “disturbing” pop surrealist images. “You could sell these,” he said. That is, minus the disturbing content they might be just “beautiful” enough to decorate a hip restaurant. His defense of his position was: “Even Picasso did conventional work until he became famous.”
It is an interesting position though not wholly relevant to where I am with my painting. My current idea has been inspired by watching “Exit Through the Gift Shop” the controversial film by the graffiti artist Banksy about the artist who now goes by the name Mr. Brainwash. I’ve never been a huge fan of graffiti being old fashioned enough to balk at it’s “illegality” in defacing (or decorating) properties that don’t belong to you. That said, I can appreciate the movement (as long as they don’t decorate my building) for what it says about art and risk. The risk these artists are taking is primarily a physical risk, of being arrested or even of falling from great heights. Much of the actual imagery is not particularly challenging conceptually, falling generally into the category of Pop Surrealism or art that uses recognizable components (faces, objects, etc) albeit in unexpected or dreamlike ways.
My “take away” was that one could in effect graffiti one’s own work. I “found” some pieces in my oeuvre that no longer interested the “me” of the present day. Of course, had they been sold and gone I wouldn’t have had this option. But since I’m a hoarder, I had them. So my “inner graffiti artist” got a hold of them and hooked them up with another trope I had been working on for some time: inspiration from Ghanaian hand-painted movie posters. So I borrowed/appropriated images from the Ghanaian posters (that had already been borrowed/appropriated from Hollywood and other studio movies). Then, like a banksy in the night I “defaced” my own paintings in keeping with the “art for art’s sake” philosophy – I just wanted to see what they looked like. That was enough reason to do it.
