Erik Sanner, an artist and a friend of mine, hosts a summer salon that brings together artists and thinkers for food and conversation about the roles of art and artists. The conversation revolves around questions, which are provided early so that we can prepare some thoughts before the (veggie) burgers hit the grill. I couldn't attend the latest round, unfortunately, but I also couldn't resist responding to the latest interrogation. Here's a taste of the questions and answers, Quick & Dirty style:
Do artists express things that others want to say, but don't know how? Or, do artists more likely see something no one else is noticing? Is the role of the artist to empower all of our feelings by giving them a voice?
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To discuss the contribution of an artist to human understanding and to the human experience is to fetishize the individual. This bias is indicated in the first question above, asking if the singular “artist” expresses something of universal appeal. It is to say that an artist has transcended into a realm of genius.
Conversely, to discuss the results (the work) of an artist, rather than the singular artist, and the work’s contribution to human understanding and experience, is to speak to the spiritual or cosmic ether in which humanity and all the universe swirl, mix, play, interact, create, and die. It is to diminish the role of the individual. My answer to the questions above draws from this line of thinking.
On the human scale, great art and artists are considered great in their time because they have been able to capture some of the cultural zeitgeist—some of the cosmic energy of the now—and visualize it in a way that achieves (mostly) universal appeal. This appeal is manifest when, in gazing at a piece, most people can say, “Yes. That’s what I’m thinking. That's reflective of what's happening to me, to all of us, now. That seems right.”
This idea of capturing a moment, then, claims not that the artist has transcended into a realm of genius, but rather the artist has channeled (fed on; funneled; translated) something greater than he or she, and has been able to visualize that moment, that energy, that flow.
Visual artists who immediately come to my mind as being able to capture and visualize some sort of unseen energy include Michelangelo, Picasso, Kandinsky, Warhol, Diego Rivera, Basquiat, and perhaps today, the explosive art of Cai Guo-Qiang, and my most recent discovery (obsession), Ryan Trecartin.
Trailer for ANY EVER, 2007-10 (Ryan Trecartin).
If the artist is unrecognized or unappreciated for his or her talents by his contemporaries (see Van Gogh), then that artist is considered by future viewers and appreciators as being “ahead of their time.” What does this mean? In the context of this discussion, being considered "ahead of the time" may indicate that the art has the potential to be timeless, insomuch that the people of a future generation may find meaning and appreciation for artwork produced well before the present, even if the art was not necessarily appreciated at the time of creation. I already cited Van Gogh as an example of this phenomenon. A contemporary example may be Damien Hirst, whose "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," (the shark in a tank) generates a love-it or hate-it visceral reaction to most audiences. I am personally no huge fan of Hirst's work, but is this because I fnd other contemporary artists to be superior (like, say, Jaume Plensa), or is it because Hirst is "ahead of his time"?
Great art? Bad art? Or ahead of it's time?
Continuing this line of thinking, if art and artists are considered ahead of their time, perhaps we can describe them as being able to anticipate a future zeitgeist, or a future moment in the cosmic flow. Such a claim too easily provides ready (dismissive?) ammunition for combatting any naysayers: "Oh, you don't get him because he's ahead of his time."
The claim also demands prognostication and is more suitable to parlor discussions than empirical debate. But hey, that's the point of a salon, right? It's a forum for the discussion of ideas. And so is this blog. Any thoughts on the ideas presented above?
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