Monday, October 28, 2013

Art Rant Number One

Kurt von Behrmann

Edvard Munch's The Scream

                There are any number of questions you can ask an artist.  You can inquire about the nature of the work or the themes involved.  There exist a plethora of questions one can ask.  Out of all of them that are possible one struck me as a bit offensive.  That question, you may ask is this.

Do you actually “sell” your work?

                The reason that question is so irksome is that it reduces art to just dollars and cents.  It does not address quality, merit or artistic direction.  The question ignores other issues like Republicans hate concessions.  A refutation of the merit of art is boldly addressed when it comes to value based on the market.

                If, and I do say if, the market is so damn accurate than why was a van Gogh worth a few dollars to be deemed priceless later.  If the market is so damn accurate artist’s monetary value would be as permanent as gravity.

                The subject is squarely art and money. The sad reality is that so many always ask the same question, do you get paid and how much?  After a while question becomes an attack on credibility.  Art should be of merit irrespective of the price.  A van Gogh is no less wonderful if it were a few dollars or millions of them.  The value of the work is in the aesthetic value.

                Ideally a work of art must stand on its own.  Its price simply a reality that artists have to get paid.  Just like the lawyer, the doctor, the butcher and the candlestick maker.  Everyone has to live.

                But when art is reduced to just another transaction, something about the idea seems coarse and ill considered.  Art is supposed to be more than a price tag.  In an ideal world it should be something of wonder that poses questions or inspires to greatness.  Art that fails to take a higher road only winds up sitting in a gutter wondering what went wrong.

                People will always wonder about the careful dance that is art and money. Too bad that the fiscal always trumps the artistic side.

Good Golly Miss Miley: LOVE SEX AND ROCK AND ROLL

Good Golly Miss Miley

Miley Cyrus Sex Machine

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

By Kurt von Behrmann

                Every since Rock and Roll ignited, sex was omnipresent.  From the flamboyant gender bending expressiveness of Little Richard to the “Pelvis of Elvis,” sexuality was the propelling force.  What had been the deep dark secret, teen age sexuality, found spokesmen, and spokeswoman who were ready to abandon convention and find release, and to some degree sanctuary, by coming up with music that gave a voice to the voiceless.  Whatever you want to make of it, the early cries of rock and roll were rebels with clues and a pretty good idea of what they wanted, and what they did not.

                The screams, the inescapable beat, rock and roll was freedom and it found in music lyrics that expressed something deep felt.

                Move ahead and the sex is with us.  What is not with us is the sincerity that made the music compelling.

                Miley Cyrus and her much talked about performance at the V.M.A.s joins a long line of shock for impact sexuality that is mean to be daring, cutting edge, risky and all those great things about rebels that everyone loves and embraces. What is often missing from the embrace of the rebellious spirit is that it can be unpopular.    To be unpopular is a cardinal sin in the sex sweepstakes that is now the currency of contemporary music.

                When America’s much loved teen, Hannah Montana grew up and became Milley Cyrus, the jolt was surprising.  Then again, scant talent has to do what it must to be popular.   Her roots as a childhood idol are blasted to bits.  The new Miley is grown up and ready to screw.  Not make love, but screw.

                What makes stunts memorable is that they are linked to something.  Whatever you may say about some music, the most memorable had more to say than sex is fun.  There was a revolutionary feel to free love that hinted at something better. Even if 60’s ideals failed to outlive the early 70’s, at least it was sincere. Misguided and jejune, but fueled by earnest attempts to make life better not worst.

                One reason given for the sex pot sexuality of is that is so new so hot.  Well sex sells, so that is nothing new.  What is new is that sex has become  harsher, scarier and less a place for pleasure than a s show down.  The truly erotic are gone.  They have been replaced by a power force sexuality that takes on a life of its own.  Minus any emotion or genuine feeling, the new sexuality exists to exist. It means no more than what it is.

                It is the harsh, almost assault that sexuality has become that makes songs like “will you still love me tomorrow” seem old fashioned.  Today it is all about the flesh.  It is more like “what will you do for me” is the new mantra of sex.

                What makes sex sell in music so tragic now is that it seems so unemotional. It is not about connecting it is about power sex meant to do little more than scream to be heard. 

                I suppose what makes Miley Cyrus “ sexcapades “ so insincere is that it is all programmed.  It was a calculated move to keep lips wagging.  On that level, Cyrus succeeded brilliantly.   Her plan paid off.

                When Madonna and Brittany Spears shared a faux lesbian kiss, can anyone remember what they were singing.  All I remember is the kiss.  Somehow the music was left behind.

                The same thing is true of Cyrus. No one talks about the music.  Everyone talks about the sexual antics.   Instead of music that talks about sex,  now we  have pure unemotional sex with music as an unobtrusive backdrop to music no one may remember.

                This essay is not to say the past was better.  It wasn’t in some respects.  There are plenty of  acts that use sex.  Taylor Swift uses sex as her primary theme.  She uses it to make music. She is not a sex object. In the man woman dance that is  heterosexuality, she uses her music to depict the loss of someone looking for love but ultimately ending up with jerks and sex hounds. 

                At the very least, people listen to Swift’s music.  She sells in the millions. I doubt if you will ever see her sitting naked on a wrecking ball.  It is highly unlikely.

                Someone I keep thinking if someone wants to really talk about sex, something tells me it would not sell. If someone really told it like it is with powerful music to match, I doubt if itunes would be jumping.  There are numerous strong musical acts.  The sad reality is a lot of true talent either sells poorly or is eclipsed by the new sex as a mean playground sexuality.

                Never before in music has sex seemed so vulgar and so unappealing.  They get the bump and grind of sex but miss the real fire that turns sex into something more than bodies bumping in the night.

                In a world where everything is sexualized from revealing outfits to little girls learning to walk in heels, the entire U.S. finds no outrage at toddlers and tiaras.

                The big defense that musical acts like Cyrus use is that this is all part of their artistic expression.   When your expression is connected with the most cynical side of the music making machine, taking on the mantel of art is a real insult to art and those that practice the profession.  If sex did not sell so well, I doubt is Cyrus would be using it at all.   

                Art is ultimately about expression, making statements and creating that which is new. It is not about sex for the sake of sex.  Sex for shock has been done. All that is left is to become more silly, more empty and more devoid of real human emotion.  Sex for sex sake is not a message. It is a desperate bid for attention when you have nothing to say.

An Art Manifesto

Sunday, September 15, 2013

A MODEST MANIFESTO

By: Kurt von Behrmann

                A piece of writing can take on a life of its own.  I started out writing an introduction to a brief essay on art in Phoenix and it turned into a discourse on ranting.  The whole process of writing is about journeys, but sometimes the side roads are just as intriguing as the destination.

                Talking about art in Phoenix it seems inevitable that a rant will follow.  There have been more than one rant I have had about making fine art in the desert.  Sometimes it fell on deaf ears.  Other times the pointed remarks made their point.

                What started my whole process of ranting and art in Phoenix started with my latest commissioned project.  Overcoming the trouble and difficulties of creating fine art, I had successfully pulled off the most difficult type of art, the commission.  It just so happened all the stars lined up properly.  The client understood my work, the space was great for art and I was given a lot of creative latitude.   What made the whole project work was that my work was understood and my direction appreciated.

                Against some well-meaning advice to “tone down” my work or making something more “accessible,” I stood true to what I do, and I believe do best, create contemporary art.  When I started creating art I made a promise to do what I do and not be swayed from my direction.   Commercial art is an anathema to me.

If a commissioned means “trashing” my integrity as an artist, it is not the right commission for me.  I am selective about the commissions I accept. I have chosen to be so by choice.   I supposed I could sell more if I “pandered” to “common tastes” but I cannot do that. My role is to elevate and expand art, not to hamper its growth.  Artists are supposed to set standards, not following blindly existing trends.  In order for art to be trend free, it has to be breaking new ground, not wallowing in existing puddles.

                My past patrons accept a standard.  The patrons I have do not want me to pander and would be insulted if I created “lesser” works.  Not just for me, but for my patrons, artistic integrity is not an option.  It is a mandate.   

                If one is going to create fine art, one has to be serious and taken seriously.  I was very fortunate in that I had a small, but understanding, set of patrons who truly understand art.  They know what I do, what I will not.   My adherence to my own standards have been the key to my artistic advancement.  The work does not grow if you become caught up in the game of “playing to a crowd.”

                If there is a rule in show businesses, and it is true in Fine Art, is that honesty is what an audience ultimately wants.   Clean, dirty, messy or neat, if there is a truth to the art it will work.  Such art will find an audience.  Lie in art and it fails to sell to anyone.  You may get lucky with a “gimmick” but for long term durability, honest in art is the only way.

                The other rule of show business that is true of singers as it is for artists is that you have to be distinctive.  When a singer opens his or her mouth and you know instantly who it is, that is the key to being an artist: people recognize your style.  If you want to succeed critically or commercially you have to be different.  Style is part of being different.  How style evolves is intriguing. It comes from a combination of discipline, inspiration, hard work and truth.  Style is not something that is grafted from an exterior source.  Style comes from within.

                Being distinctive, being creative, being an artist is about demands.  The demands of the profession, the demands of reaching higher and higher levels of achievement, the demands you place on yourself, art is about demands.  Demands are just a part of the process.

                One can be an artist and be purely a careerist, but I don’t think you are an authentic artist.   When you create purely to sell, there is fakeness to the whole thing.  The work shows its roots.  The regrowth shows through.  It doesn’t take long to see that the work is simply phony.  

                What started as a rant turned into a manifesto.

                Sometimes the journey is about the back roads.

Ranting: An Instrument of Change

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Rants

By Kurt von Behrmann

                Rants are constructive. When situations reach a pressure point so intense that articulating the problem in sharp tones becomes a release valve, a good rant has a special place in the world.  Factoring the world as it is, I amazed that outrage doesn’t express itself more often.  

There is something in the American psych that prefers to accept the status quo without complaint.  No matter how intense, until things reach total collapse, until situations become impossible, only then do the rants in full epic swing begin.  Considering the state of so many things, it seems odd protests have not been more frequent or more intense. 

Accepting problems without question has benefits.  Protesting and ranting require energy. Complacency only demands silence. Rants and protests puts your voice on the front lines.  Once you put forth an opinion, you are at risk for ridicule.  Removed from the safety of anonymity, putting on a good rant brings you attention.  It places you center circle at the meeting place between accepted notions and iconoclastic myth shattering.  Remaining silent offers security.  Remaining silent also prolongs beneficial change.  Prolonged apathy turns into immobility.   Eventually nothing changes for the better for all. 

 

 For a select minority, silence is the gateway to literally getting away with murder.  Keep demanding what you will and moving ahead without compliant from anyone and silence becomes a credit card with no limit.  Lack of disturbers of the make believe peace always means someone is taking too large a cut of the pubic pie.  Until someone says no, everyone has to do with smaller and smaller slices.  In time someone gets the whole pie and everyone else is left with crumbs.  Look at the banking scandals that ruined our economy and you start to see how the whole thing works.  Minus a huge crowd of ranters, the whole ugly mess was cleaned up  by the very people hurt the most.

Ranting, just like any form of communication can be abused.  To rant simply to rant without reason is just noise.  To rant about the inconsequential is a rant wasted.  In the high stakes game of ranting, you need to select a topic that merits a worthy response.  Choices on what to rant about are critical.  Choose wisely before starting an epic rant.