Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art? by Kyung An

Author:Kyung An
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780500292747
Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
Published: 2017-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

Santiago Sierra, 250 CM LINE TATTOOED ON THE BACKS OF 6 PAID PEOPLE, Espacio Aglutinador. Havana, December 1999, 1999

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Picasso Baby

Why does everyone want in on art?

ON 10 JULY 2013, rapper and hip-hop mogul Jay Z staged a private gig for a group of invite-only guests at New York’s Pace Gallery in Chelsea. This was the debut of his new song ‘Picasso Baby’ and, to launch it into the world, he arranged a special six-hour performance of the track. The event was inspired by the performance artist Marina Abramović’s show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art three years earlier → see S. For The Artist is Present, she sat silently opposite gallery visitors one-on-one, every day for the entire duration of the exhibition – over 700 hours in total. In homage to Abramović’s search for intimacy, her attempt to connect with each visitor in a wordless exchange, Jay Z directed his performance to individual guests in turn – a mixture of television stars, fans and art world royalty (including Abramović herself).

In the lyrics to ‘Picasso Baby’, art is not a space of creative freedom, but a luxury good to be owned and name-dropped. The song is a roll call of the biggest names in the art world – Picasso, Rothko and Warhol, Art Basel and Christie’s. But essentially, what Jay Z wants you to know is that he’s today’s answer to Pablo Picasso, baby. Here, visual art is a symbol of wealth, a material extension of the self; its revered status allows Jay Z to shake off the shackles of pop culture and elevate himself to the rank of the greats, his rap to that of a magnum opus.

The allure of the art world has increased over the past few years, most noticeably for those in pop culture. Actors and musicians seek to step into the art world, and not just through collaborations – these performers want to be taken seriously as ‘artists’ in their own right. The recording of ‘Picasso Baby’ by Jay Z is not a music video; it is a ‘Performance Art Film’. James Franco, the actor-artist-filmmaker-author, is now a regular on the gallery circuit. His paintings, photography, videos and installations have been presented in major solo exhibitions. Lady Gaga, global superstar and world-famous musician, launched a whole album titled ‘ARTPOP’, featuring Jeff Koons’s artwork on the cover, and staged an album tour called ‘ArtRave’. As she sings in ‘Applause’ and has also tweeted: ‘Pop culture was in art, now art’s in pop culture, in me!’ In a world that draws a sharp distinction between ‘high art’ and pop culture, it’s all about harnessing the art world’s cachet.

Crossing over into the art world certainly has its perks. It offers a marketing tool par excellence, garnering headlines, provoking controversy and bamboozling people. Jay Z’s performance went viral within minutes, as did actor Shia LaBoeuf’s decision to wear a paper bag on his head to movie premieres and hold audiences during opening hours at Cohen Gallery in LA in another homage to Abramović.

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