This week I am posting excerpts from Longo’s Logos, an essay from 1990. It begins with the thought that the “institutional critique” offered by so many artists is an empty charade, a kind of scam, because critiques of that sort get art-world traction only by incorporating the values of the institutions they pretend to call into question: art history, art criticism, the art market. To put it another way: artists praised for their seemingly courageous attacks on the establishment are taken seriously only if they covertly play along with the targets of their attacks. Nothing bores me more than a phony radical, and so I was glad to see that one artist, Robert Longo, refused to play the radical game.
What I appreciate about your writings is the global perspectives they put on the table about the art world machinery and the tunes that it plays that land in our heads like jingles - some we enjoy, others become earworms. Because I need money to make art, I must learn the latest craze to put my hand out, knowing I am as likely to get what I need as a beggar on the sidewalk. Still, after reading your posts, I feel at home with this futility because at least there is a purpose to making art, even if it’s just to let my brain breathe.
Always a fan of getting away from the charade or caricature, whether it be critiquing a system or making art. It is the only way I can't be bored too and alternatively, engaged. Also it's the only way to breathe as someone wrote. Thank you for revisiting Robert Longo. I like re-looking and seeing how he drags his personal detritus along rather than keeping it at a disingenuous distance.
the last paragraph put me in mind of something I noticed while living in Spain (once I'd somewhat gotten up to speed with the language) which is a frequently explicit and slightly bitter critique of the 'American' part of 'American artist', which is certainly in harmony with your piece (I wonder if you pulled in some extra-US thinking here), namely that the mere fact of the power / voice / reach of a nation's institutions irredeemably marks any artist's work (specifically it negates any 'dissident' artist) because the work itself, at the end of the line, is overshadowed and overpowered by the national shadow, as well as the artist's established aura as protected by that national shadow.
Buñuel, for instance, in his autobiography 'Mi Ultimo Suspiro' cast a very doubtful eye on the stature of a writer like Hemingway - for all his love of Spain, and for all his iconoclastic attitudes - as fundamentally shored up and propagated by US power, while, for Buñuel, far superior Spanish contemporaries were shunted into the shadows as 'minor writers'. There's much to be said for biting the hand that feeds you.
This is a bull'seye essay ! Wow, as potent now as then, as in the medieval workshops and Baroque Master Shops.
"he is the only member of his generation who uses all the resources of his art to block the transcendental ascent and thus risk his authority as an artist."
I have exhibited as a Studio "GXI", (GeorgexIndia) since 1992, with collaborators and other workmen. This is a genuine way to identify the role and activity of the making of works. And, it liberates the pieces as "Works of Art" to be seen, bought, sold and appreciated over generations with all the meanings that others find, as well as the intended ones.
GXI is also incorporated and inside a Trust to parallel the procedures and protections of Mega-corps, being a 'synthetic person' in law.
By remaining plain and so aligned, the maker is simple and genuine--- the Works of Art are themselves, separate and complex, open and elusive. Indeed, as open and elusive as the trading partners like "APOLLO" or "MARLBORO" "MARATHON" etc.
In this regard the 'synthetic person' mega-corp seal and rebranding safety features of Mega-Corps, all to avoid responsibility and authenticity to their clients which is belied by their prosestations to the contrary, is mirrored by the re-branding of the 'celebs' and music 'celebs'. The singers and stage stars pump and distribute their products for quick consumption, then rebrand for next several years. The same type of synthetic process. How different is the writer of "Silent Night, Holy Night", an Austrian sheep herder who was inspired by the magnificence of the universe one dark night. Many of us listen to that song every year. Speaking of 1990's Aritsts, is anyone listening to Vanilla Ice anymore ?? ... ??... incredible vacuity across our culture, as a Poet friend once wrote, here in America on the "jagged edge of culture".
It is noteworthy that disingenuine practice is the at the center of our American and International Society. As a Polynesian friend said to me : " EVERYONE IS LYING TO EVERYONE ELSE INSIDE A BUBBLE OF LIES " .
My studio and I say that we are trying to make Art. We like Art. We make Art of our time . We want it to be about our central visual and communicative systematics. We want to contribute and measure up .
If it's not as good as a 13th Century Work, or a Rubens, Manet, or Matisse-- hey, don't buy it.
OR- just look at it.
A genuine responsibility to working like a workman, administrator, or soldier avoids all the defenses and posturing, all those ridiculous poses of the celebs and rebranded singers, ghost fake writers, put-on painters, tongue and cheek sarcasms. Let Art be seen heard read and experienced immediately . People, Connoisseurs and Critics really are able to handle the real thing.
My own attitude is a fresh approach, using the accepted systems, to deliver the goods.
What I appreciate about your writings is the global perspectives they put on the table about the art world machinery and the tunes that it plays that land in our heads like jingles - some we enjoy, others become earworms. Because I need money to make art, I must learn the latest craze to put my hand out, knowing I am as likely to get what I need as a beggar on the sidewalk. Still, after reading your posts, I feel at home with this futility because at least there is a purpose to making art, even if it’s just to let my brain breathe.
So beautifully stated and perfectly felt.
Glad I am not alone.
Always a fan of getting away from the charade or caricature, whether it be critiquing a system or making art. It is the only way I can't be bored too and alternatively, engaged. Also it's the only way to breathe as someone wrote. Thank you for revisiting Robert Longo. I like re-looking and seeing how he drags his personal detritus along rather than keeping it at a disingenuous distance.
Hi Carter - refreshing as ever!
the last paragraph put me in mind of something I noticed while living in Spain (once I'd somewhat gotten up to speed with the language) which is a frequently explicit and slightly bitter critique of the 'American' part of 'American artist', which is certainly in harmony with your piece (I wonder if you pulled in some extra-US thinking here), namely that the mere fact of the power / voice / reach of a nation's institutions irredeemably marks any artist's work (specifically it negates any 'dissident' artist) because the work itself, at the end of the line, is overshadowed and overpowered by the national shadow, as well as the artist's established aura as protected by that national shadow.
Buñuel, for instance, in his autobiography 'Mi Ultimo Suspiro' cast a very doubtful eye on the stature of a writer like Hemingway - for all his love of Spain, and for all his iconoclastic attitudes - as fundamentally shored up and propagated by US power, while, for Buñuel, far superior Spanish contemporaries were shunted into the shadows as 'minor writers'. There's much to be said for biting the hand that feeds you.
This is a bull'seye essay ! Wow, as potent now as then, as in the medieval workshops and Baroque Master Shops.
"he is the only member of his generation who uses all the resources of his art to block the transcendental ascent and thus risk his authority as an artist."
I have exhibited as a Studio "GXI", (GeorgexIndia) since 1992, with collaborators and other workmen. This is a genuine way to identify the role and activity of the making of works. And, it liberates the pieces as "Works of Art" to be seen, bought, sold and appreciated over generations with all the meanings that others find, as well as the intended ones.
GXI is also incorporated and inside a Trust to parallel the procedures and protections of Mega-corps, being a 'synthetic person' in law.
By remaining plain and so aligned, the maker is simple and genuine--- the Works of Art are themselves, separate and complex, open and elusive. Indeed, as open and elusive as the trading partners like "APOLLO" or "MARLBORO" "MARATHON" etc.
In this regard the 'synthetic person' mega-corp seal and rebranding safety features of Mega-Corps, all to avoid responsibility and authenticity to their clients which is belied by their prosestations to the contrary, is mirrored by the re-branding of the 'celebs' and music 'celebs'. The singers and stage stars pump and distribute their products for quick consumption, then rebrand for next several years. The same type of synthetic process. How different is the writer of "Silent Night, Holy Night", an Austrian sheep herder who was inspired by the magnificence of the universe one dark night. Many of us listen to that song every year. Speaking of 1990's Aritsts, is anyone listening to Vanilla Ice anymore ?? ... ??... incredible vacuity across our culture, as a Poet friend once wrote, here in America on the "jagged edge of culture".
It is noteworthy that disingenuine practice is the at the center of our American and International Society. As a Polynesian friend said to me : " EVERYONE IS LYING TO EVERYONE ELSE INSIDE A BUBBLE OF LIES " .
My studio and I say that we are trying to make Art. We like Art. We make Art of our time . We want it to be about our central visual and communicative systematics. We want to contribute and measure up .
If it's not as good as a 13th Century Work, or a Rubens, Manet, or Matisse-- hey, don't buy it.
OR- just look at it.
A genuine responsibility to working like a workman, administrator, or soldier avoids all the defenses and posturing, all those ridiculous poses of the celebs and rebranded singers, ghost fake writers, put-on painters, tongue and cheek sarcasms. Let Art be seen heard read and experienced immediately . People, Connoisseurs and Critics really are able to handle the real thing.
My own attitude is a fresh approach, using the accepted systems, to deliver the goods.