Three Pillars of Art Shows

Van Gogh | Hirst | Warhol

Surprisingly, for as much as I love art, this is the first year I’ve been to the L.A. Art Show.

I saw a lot of great images and one interesting use of a newer video technology that uses a transparent LED panel that allows a video image to seemingly float above other constructions underneath.

One thought kept popping into my head as I took it all in, though… contemporary art seems to fall into three categories:

• “Look at this.”

• “Look at me.”

• “Made you look.”

The first seems to be an authentic expression of an idea or ideas. The art is contained within itself separate from the artist.

The second seems to be preoccupied with being overly tricked out. Constructions that are designed to show us how clever the artist is rather than express something personal.

The last belongs to a sort of Vegas spectacle mentality. They often use dead, “beautiful corpse” celebrities as their focus and are frequently highly polished billboards with some custom neon or other lighting designed to hang over a casino buffet’s entrance or in your (very large) living room.

I’m being a little judgmental here. I also understand that, for an artist to survive as an artist, they often must “crowd please” if they’ve not managed to break through into the rarified air of high-flying wealthy collectors.

I also believe that if you love a piece of art and it gives you joy, my opinion is irrelevant. In the same way nobody can tell you what your favorite food is. Only you know that.

I see these three categories not as a criticism of art in general but as a revelation of my own internal battles with creating for a living. I often find myself in a paralytic funk juggling all three.

While I may not like a lot of the work that fits into the second two categories, I do see them. And, occasionally, revelatory things can happen in the second two categories.

And, equally, self-involved navel-gazing in the first category is a problem of its own.

In fact, it’s that problem with the Abstract Expressionists that catalyzed Andy Warhol.

We’ve been living in that Warhol world of kitsch-indifference for awhile.

Authenticity’s neighbor is frequently Narcissus.

Sometimes society’s court jesters are there to push him in so the conversation can once again evolve.

And sometimes we need jesters for our jesters to play them off the stage.