A Wonderful Discovery
This is a new artist who comes to the attention. His work sometimes has this spirit which I seek, of the romantic modernism. This is called "The Amoralists", it is somewhat provocative, and makes me wish to visit the "L.A.":
Just by looking at his face I can see he is a great spirit.
posted by Latouche at Large at 1:16 PM
4 Comments:
Didn't we see something a lot like this in Body Double?
Monsieur, you vex me. I can only assume this is baiting.
You are not positing that these are anything other than facile if not unpleasant illustrations, reminiscent of but less well rendered than an average Barcadi ad in a 1959 Playboy?
It is neither Romantic, nor Modernism, nor any combination of the driving forces behind those important movements. It only resembles illustration from a certain brief period in which modernism was still, just barely, the dominant artistic strategy, and had influenced post-war advertising design. This work is even bypassed by the contemporary art alternative pop, ad, cartoon and graffitti area, which has moved on to far more exciting - and interestingly dull - things, like Mark Ryder or outsider art or any number of energetic young artists grappling with a ubiquitous media culture.
It has a been a very long age indeed since you could posit lack of art as art without something more to back it up. The strategy dates to at least 1913, when it was briefly interesting.
Perhaps that is the point. I recall that you have stated you are not interested in art as such, and can only assume that you are cultivating a visual experience that is the lack of having an experience.
I view your focus on "driving forces" and "important movements" as inappropriately historical.
I think they are nice pictures.
This one, in particular, captures the contrast of the human organism with its self-created prison made from steel and glass.
It captures nothing of the kind. It says nothing of any kind but: here is a very simplistic cartoon of a girl that is exactly like 50s and 60s advertising, with some partly coordinated colors. It examines nothing. It risks nothing. It questions nothing. There is nothing wrong with it, but it makes certain nothing could be by being very nearly nothing itself.
Yet you call it provocative. Your own introduction references not one but TWO historical movements, plus a synthesis of those movements, plus some sort of supposedly contemporary artistic style, for a total of four movements in two short sentences. The subtext of all this was to amplify the importance of this piece of jpeg confection.
By all means, sport this design on your next ambient cd cover or perhaps a vinyl man-purse. It makes Nagel look like Lucien Freud. If you want to see the monumental pleasantry as real art, please see Alex Katz, or god forbid David Hockney. But do not hand me a single fun-size marshmellow and declare it a nutritious breakfast.
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