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.Īrtists (though sadly not writers) tend to move to where the battle is joined most fiercely. It's interesting that this should be the case. 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. I don't think it's possible to touch people's imagination today by aesthetic means. There's a logic today that places a greater value on celebrity the less it is accompanied by actual achievement. 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. 'Today's art scene? Very difficult to judge, since celebrity and the media presence of the artists are inextricably linked with their work. (that's what you get for reading the Times, I spose).Įspecially given recent hoo-hahs here, I particularly liked his comments on the contemporary art scene: There was a reek of semen that quickened the bloodįantastic interview with Ballard in the Guardian last week that somehow passed me by That's part of the syndrome actually: politeness, respect, eclecticism, all discourse part of the PR industry, everything goes. People don't get heated enough about this sort of thing. When I'm short of inspiration, I can also post about one of the hot 100. In future, I hope to build up something on every one of the albums. In the first instance, I've hyperlinked to pieces I've already written on particular albums at k-punk. I've decided to treat is as working document at least then it won't be a purely reactive blast against the Observer's list. The eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed that I've put the top 100 up on the sidebar. I simply thought about which records I've bought (and some which I've, not to my credit, gotten rid of) over the years, and tried to decide which ones had most impact on me. Well, I can say honestly that there was nothing contrived on my list. Incidentally, Matt commented the other day (25.06 - no permalinx on the hyper-minimalist Woebotnik, natch) that top 100 lists are 'almost constructed to shore off the sniping remarks of one's peers'. "A master of the ulcerated torrent" eh? Like that - it's going on the cv.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |