Bananas taped to walls, giant chandeliers hung under bridges, the art world has appeared especially provocative this week on my feed. And while much pearl-clutching has animated the debate, I am left mostly amused at how predictable all of the reactions have been. If art is, even at its “worst,” a direct reflection of society, then much of what we are seeing on the walls of galleries and in the public art spaces of cities is a signal of the spectacle culture that artists navigate on the daily. No doubt we live in a challenging contemporary art environment, but that is because power structures are abstracted and refracted through layers of meaning and networked contexts. The best of today’s artists speak simultaneously to multiple audiences, stopping us in our tracks with the provocation to think beyond the obvious “stunt” that an artwork may pose. And so it never fails to amaze me how much judgement and scapegoating befalls these same artists— artists that most people condemn and write off without digging a bit further.
Take for example street artist Banksy’s shredding of Girl With Balloon last year at Sotheby’s. After the faux outrage, anger, and eyerolls (and continued refusal of art world elites to take the artist seriously), there is the reality that the work brilliantly crystallized all that is problematic and symptomatic of an art market run amok in the past decade. This has been the ethos of Banksy throughout his long-standing career— to shine a light where the art world tends to ignore. Yes, the work was literal, and yes the work spoke to populist tastes, but the work also did what the best art does—it created a meaningful conversation and drew attention to networks of power. What more can we ask of artists? And how can we blame them for taking commissions and patronage, or choosing to make work that lands them with higher visibility and in proximity to powerful individuals, or in apparent conflicts of interest. That is, after all, the precise nature of the art world. It is an eco-system where Art Basel co-exists with the Venice Biennale and Documenta, and where even the most serious and academic artists have to contend with collectors’ interests, the whims of the market, and the leveling effects of Instagram and screen culture. Enjoy the links this week and don’t forget to look beyond the headlines when hearing about your next art world provocation.
Banana Splits: Spoiled by Its Own Success, the $120,000 Fruit Is Gone
Goodbye Art World, Hello Art Industry: How the Art Market Has Transformed
Cindy Sherman Has Unveiled Her First Non-Photographic Works at Art Basel Miami Beach
This Photographer Captures the Fragile Beauty of Expired Instant Film
Turner Prize Will Be Split Among All Four Nominees, at Their Request
