Part 1
Can a work of art really be connected to the artist when the artist hasn’t made it or perhaps even touched it? The answer to that is of course, yes as Rob Turner, Nicola Dale and David Riley and David Minton have generously pointed out in their comments to my last post. The obtuse nature of that question was intentional because it has become common for artists to not be involved in the making process and I think we must question it at times. What I’m getting at here really is intent.
I’m questioning the validity of an artist’s intent when work is produced, whether that artist made the work or not. I’ll use two examples, Jeff Koons and Richard Serra, both superstar artists who have work produced by others. (This relates to the discourse with Nicola in the comments of my last post, #37.)
Personally, I will never trust Jeff Koons as an artist because his original intent in making art was to take the piss and make lots of money – sorry Nicola. To be fair, Jeff Koons has done an important thing (even though I think it was in spite of himself and through no real intent of his own) in art. He has shown the shallowness and crassness of it all. That anyone would take his work seriously – sorry Nicola – shows the absurdity of the whole art world. His position is like the court jester or the clown in Native American cultures – they were there to point out the absurdities in their societies, not that I think Jeff Koons had the intelligence to know that or the seriousness to position himself that way – sorry, Nicola, mea culpa, mea culpa. However, now Jeff Koons is accepted as an artist and nobody will be changing that opinion. The question of whether he made his work I think is important because his intentions were not to make art which explored any issues or raised any questions – even though the art machine has explored issues and raised questions for him. He had no art education and as far as I can tell no particular interest in art, there was no and continues to be no artistic progression. He’s got nothing behind him except all the collectors who collect his work and a bundle of dough in the bank.
I saw the puppy at the Guggenheim in Bilbao several years ago and it was cute – well perhaps cute isn’t the word because it was too massive to be cute. Honestly, I was impressed by the topiary of it and I thought of the skilled topiary artists who created and maintained it, not of Jeff Koons.
That brings up another point of consideration, what is happening when an artist’s work makes us think of those involved in producing the work rather than the artists themselves? Ai Wei Wei’s sunflower seeds made me think of the craftspeople that made those seeds, not only the ocean of humanity symbolized by those seeds. It’s a curious thing and I wonder if an artist like Ai Wei Wei makes a conscious effort to highlight the work/presence of others through a work with his name on it? That would be a novel approach, making art to spotlight someone who is anonymous as maker/artist rather than yourself. Of course, artists like Sherry Levine and others who appropriated art did that, but they were using works of already famous artists so it wasn’t quite the same thing.
My second example is Richard Serra, one of my favorite artists. I respect his work immensely. He couldn’t possibly make his massive steel sculptures, but it doesn’t matter because I trust his intentions. I know he has worked with many media and I know he is serious in his intent. His artistic exploration is evident and shows mature progression. There is no question in my mind that Richard Serra is behind and involved with every aspect of the production, directing, planning of the work. The question of whether Serra’s hands ever touched the work is moot because the intent and artistic vision is evident.
