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By: David Macintosh

Artist David Macintosh takes a personal look at collaborative working.

Lynn Barber once wrote an in-depth article on Jake and Dinos Chapman for whatever Sunday culture section she writes for, in which she did nothing but pry into their allegedly traumatic childhood, and make lunges at the unsuspecting Dinos, to try and catch a glimpse of his withered hand. It was as if the once respected cultural commentator had become celebrity nose poker for the day; more concerned with their private lives than anything else. Whether she was the victim of some bizarre practical joke on the part of the artists, or completely taken by their celebrity, I’m not so sure. I seem to remember it ending with them running away from her after she’d finally managed to grab the hand shouting, “Tell me about your hand”, repeatedly. Barber’s need to turn the brothers into an oddity is a common strategy when confronted with a collaborative practice where two artists make one work. It’s as if the relationship will always be in the way of the work, and that it is impossible to acknowledge that one artwork can be the result of a collective vision, without a catch. The word genius is not bandied around as freely as it used to be – thank God –...

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