Why does it seem that the most successful people are the biggest assholes? Latest example being Kehinde Wiley, the portraitist credited with painting Obama in 2018, who is accused by at least three people of sexual abuse and inappropriate touching. In other words, abusing his position as a prominent artist – which doesn’t seem like an isolated story given Chuck Close, Pollock, Rivera, Picasso, Gauguin – the list is long even when limited to famous visual artists. That he is being accused of abuse is not surprising seeing as Wiley is firstly a capitalist taking advantage of others – and a prime follower of today’s unfortunate art world successful artist trend of being mainly an art manager and marketer who seeks to exploit others for personal gain – in this case mainly Chinese artisans, who execute his works a la Koons or Warhol. He is an adherent to the modern principle of the “artist” not showing presence in their work and only being the ‘conceptual’ master behind the images he mass produces, markets and sells. And sure enough his ‘hand’ is invisible because he plagiarizes images from old masters then has his assistant(s) photograph ‘street’ people in the same pose and superimposes this over a decorative pattern also probably appropriated but definitely not executed by him. Kind of like having others manifest a photoshop collage you put together except in boring repetition. But hey it sells, right? Not my idea of art but it is definitely accepted today as legitimate. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) jumped into the fray to defend the abusive asshole because several museums and galleries cancelled their exhibits of his work over the issue. For their part a group of those abused by the artist put out a joint statement saying that “…artistic merit, while significant, should not take precedence over issues of moral injury and human dignity.” I agree, at least as long as Wiley is alive and continues abusing his position of privilege it is only justice to deny him exhibit space by those professing an aversion to moral turpitude. Once he is gone, history may patiently pass judgement on whether the value of Wiley’s art, in the context of art history, surpasses the stain of his personal conduct. After all, many of the abusive artists mentioned here earlier who have passed away still hang prominently in major museums all over the world in spite of their conduct.
Author Archives: Rudy Guernica
Occupations and Protests
Seems like the late 60’s are back with all the protests at universities and elsewhere over the continuing genocide in Gaza by Israel. And the protests have now also come to encompass art exhibits, fairs, museums, and galleries. Also back is the right wing outrage and police/military over-reactions against these political protests. Hopefully nothing will escalate to the level of students being shot at by armed government forces over political discourse. Seems like the lessons of Kent State and Jackson State have been lost on new generations with many in authority calling for National Guard and police to forcibly eject protesters from their campuses when they are just peacefully occupying school grounds over a legitimate social issue. Not so legitimate is the illegal and endless occupation of disputed territory by Israel and the tactics they employ to displace and humiliate their Arab neighbors with the tacit approval or participation of their government. The Israeli occupation is terrorism and resistance to it is justified but they loudly cry antisemitism and terrorism when those oppressed take action against them. This is by no means meant to serve as an excuse for kidnapping or hostage taking. However, the Israeli state even cries about discrimination against them by anyone who vocally opposes their now theocratic, militaristic, and racist regime. Their stupid argument about entitlement to the lands through passages in mythological literature like the Bible is patently outrageous as was British partition of the territory through colonialism. All parties should immediately call for a ceasefire, appoint a commission to develop a viable Palestinian state, and free all the hostages and political prisoners. But to continue with the topic, much to my surprise, these anti-war protests have even reached the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, and as alumni I received official communication from them trying to justify violence against the protesters. Here’s what I have to say to present ‘president’ Tenny and ‘provost’ Berger… you’re a disgrace to your own artist’s freedom of speech and liberty of ideas by ordering police unto the premises with excuse of protecting students. Grow a spine and practice your own discourse of artistic freedom or close the school. Pay attention to the message of the protesters that it is time that international pressure force Israel to abandon their half-century old occupation, accept a Palestinian state, and aspire to be a true democratic model in the Middle East.
On Process Art
Those who know me have often heard me rant against ‘process art’ and its proponents. I am going to reprise those complaints with the end of 2023. So many art ‘hobbyists’ discover and follow a particular process for producing pieces and are ultimately deceived into believing it is art and that they are subsequently legitimate artists. Maybe this is brought about by the commercial success of their product as pure decoration or by inept and misguided peers’ adulation. The use of alcohol inks or acrylic pouring come to mind as prime examples of process disguising as unique art. You can find infinite examples of either process and their mostly identical image results with a simple computer search. If you are producing process art using such methods let me clearly tell you that no, you are not producing art – you are just following a process that results in a pretty object. Art needs meditation and purpose in how marks are applied and images are transferred from the mind to the surface. It is never enough to just depend on a process. Of course we all utilize ‘processes’ in order to transfer and realize images but these processes must be secondary to concept and interpretation, and hopefully invisible. For instance, the use of loading brushes with paint might be considered a ‘process’. The distinction is that the process must be slave to the artist and not vice versa. Artists also use processes to print and realize their images in multiples such as woodcut, silk-screen, lithography, etching, etc. but these processes are never the end in itself and have rather always been seen as legitimate vehicles for realizing personal visions – especially in multiples. The clearest modern example is photography – a technological process (machine) that permits individual personal expression but is dangerously close to being abused as a simple process. To further complicate matters we now have Artificial Intelligence (AI) art that is total process but has exponential expression built on communal or specific images from real artists. The distinction of personal vision from technological process has never been harder to distinguish as with AI and it embodies the same philosophical questions that photography once posed and dominated as the preferred machine process for generating images. Sure we can coax computers toward a personal vision, much like cameras, but where does it stop being a repetitive process and begin being the artist? I don’t think anyone can really tell and so we have widespread opposition to AI images as legitimate art. The best advise if you want to be an artist is to avoid technological tools and concentrate on the basics – handmade personal images using rudimentary tools. Mistakes derived from traditional media never seemed so comforting as when considering an alternative to pure process art.
Colonialism dies hard
Restitution of stolen artifacts is a hot topic these days and many museums have heeded the call by doing the right thing and returning antiquities acquired under doubtful circumstances to their rightful country of origin. German cultural institutions seem to be leading the way but one notable exception and holdout to restitution is the British Museum who insists they have more merit in retaining these pieces than the countries clamoring for their return. This they claim in spite of having had thieves among their personnel who have secretly and routinely stolen items from the collection and sold them for a pittance on ebay. Who says English arrogance died with their imperialism? Notable objects in stubborn resistance to the granting of restitution by the British museum are the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon in Greece and the Benin bronzes from the Edo region of what is now Nigeria. Greece continues to insist the Elgin marbles be returned even as English authorities maintain they were legally obtained from Ottoman occupiers. Nigerian authorities have dedicated a museum to their Benin bronzes, which were widely scattered among many mainly European museums. To complicate matters in their favor, British authorities point to legislative acts of ‘Heritage’ and ‘British Museum’ that prevent the transfer of (looted) cultural heritage from the UK. But what could they fear? It is morally repugnant to selfishly maintain control over foreign cultural objects that were essentially stolen from their host countries and English authorities must acknowledge this. It is time for the public to rise and protest the unacceptable imperial attitude of their government and cultural institutions to call for the peaceful and permanent transfer of these objects to their rightful origins.
The Artbots start to take over
About four years ago I was part of a pioneering group that typed text to create pictures using a catalog of images and textures. It was a clumsy and tedious process that produced strikingly similar work and ultimately held my interest for only a short time. But technology moves fast. The past year has seen a proliferation of sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) text-to-image programs that will blow your mind and make you worry about the future of artists. Illustrators and graphic artists may as well surrender their aspirations or learn to code. Online programs such as Stable Diffusion, Dall-e 2, Wombo, Pixray, Canva, Starryai and others create art out of words better than any stable of Chinese slave artists I have ever tried to liberate. Any style, any topic – the variety and sophistication of the art is incredible. These are no longer just simple art filters (Texture, ‘Watercolor’, Pixelate etc.) included in popular graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw and ‘mapped’ over personal images or photographs… these are full art styles applied to an image derived solely from a written description. Nor are they popular app filters like Pixma, Toonme, or Deep Art Effects, that need you to provide a base photograph or image to apply their styles – just words will do. Much has been made of a prize won by an AI-generated ‘photograph’ this past August in Texas but the distinction between human and computer creativity has never been thinner, and more examples are bound to arise – that is if they are revealed, because there is little to distinguish one from the other. Of course these text-to-image programs rely (like my prior experience) on a database of visual images created in the past by human artists – but the variety derived from this trove is unique to the text proposed and the genesis of the image is generally hidden from the author. Technology has their bots recycling old art but seems incapable of creating new movements or aesthetics like groups of artists have in the past. Of course nowadays many artists cycle between past styles and ‘appropriate’ images from other artists with impunity – and in doing so erase acceptance of the same from artificial intelligence. It seems contemporary art is presently stuck in a vicious circle of refinement and regurgitation. Meanwhile, the bots match our most famous examples in the visual arts… and from the fringes wear down and corrupt the inspiration of emerging artists and any originality they can dream of inventing.
Non-plagiarists vs Warhol’s legacy
Artists are lining up on each side of an upcoming October Supreme Court ruling brought on by the Warhol Foundation’s appeal of a lower court ruling barring it from using images without substantially changing them. The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and the US Copyright office are among groups opposing the Warhol Foundation. A ruling in favor of Warhol would diminish the work of any photographer who values their work and puts it in the public realm, making it fair game for lazy artists like Warhol, Barbara Kruger (who lent her name to the Warhol side), Jeff Koons and Richard Prince, among others, who constantly plagiarize images in their work and call it their own with minimal if any changes. If these artists (Warhol rest in peace) want to use a published image in their art without significantly changing it, why shouldn’t they pay the original artist/photographer for the privilege? Or conversely, why not go take your own damn photograph(s) to use? Warhol was never a good draftsman – but he was excellent at pissing on his pieces. His most recognized work such as Marilyn, Elvis, and Mao use photographs, apparently taken by others and used without permission. This is an issue originating in the 20th century with photography but modern society has made it even more easy, through means of the internet, to find and use any image put out for view in the world. It must be noted however that only the most shameless artists plagiarize these works without changing them or seeking permission for them. Many of them are in that modern wing of art that denies showing the ‘artist’s hand’ in works of art – movement famously promoted by Warhol and his ‘factory’. Successful contemporary artists especially should not be given a pass on adopting images without costs. A ruling in favor of the Warhol Foundation will only promote plagiarists as they exploit less successful artists with impunity. Artists prone to using ‘factories’ and ‘assistants’ will find that industrial production of art is not so easy when you have to personally develop all your images. It is not too much to ask for these capitalist artists to sacrifice ease of production for ethical support. BTW there are already laws in most countries that logically migrate published images into the public realm after due time – this case seems to only apply to contemporary images under authorship of current persons. The Copyright office and the photographer groups are correct to oppose this outrageous over-reach by greedy artist-plagiarists and their legacy foundations.
Cuban-American Dichotomies
Two dueling versions of the art world were in plain view recently, specially for Cuban-Americans. In Florida on the one hand, we saw the spectacle of Art Basel Miami Beach 2021 (along with NADA and various other satellite shows) and in Havana the 14th Biennial – all in the midst of Covid-19 and the Omicron variant – as if anybody cared. In the southern heart of American capitalism, huge crowds of ultra-rich investors descended upon the stalls of the 1% selected galleries to scoop up commodified goods sometimes recognized as artwork by other narratives. The haul was in the billions of dollars for mostly blue-chip artists and galleries. Meanwhile, back in arch-nemesis Havana, the communist overlords trying to soften their image by using art as political propaganda had their every-other-year efforts to promote local artists ‘salir por la culeta’, or backfire spectacularly as selected citizens declined to participate or protested the exhibit due to the government’s suppression and jailing of other dissident artists. Miami saw the likes of pop stars Leonard DiCaprio and Adam Levine, casino mogul Steve Wynn, and many other VIP’s entertained with exclusive sessions where they could select their visual investments prior to the common hoards. In Havana, hundreds signed an open letter calling for a boycott that included the likes of Robert Storr (isn’t he just a critic living comfortably in the US?) while another letter from Human Rights advocacy groups including Meryl Streep called for the Cuban government to “…stop its unrelenting abuses against artists…”. As was to be expected, nobody signed any letters objecting to the commodification and institutionalism of the affair in Miami but rather gave tacit approval to the money orgy it represented. There were also no letters from artists calling for an end to the obscene ‘sanctions’ imposed by the USA on Cuba for over 60 years. Miami was awash in celebrities and publicity – it was the greatest of successes – while Havana was ignored or criticized and kicked down some more notches in the global art hierarchy. Somehow the balance doesn’t seem quite right in this equation of the art world between the two centers of Cuban American culture. Attribute these diverse attitudes to obvious regional economic and political inequality. Cuban artists in Miami were marginalized per usual while Cuban American artists in Havana were non existent. Most of this can be rationalized as a result of the highly politicized polarity of the two cities but shouldn’t art be held above that? In any case, the art world proves once again to be as disgusting as usual in its real manifestation on both sides of the Caribbean.
Hunter Biden Blows
Here we go again with celebrity artists taking over headlines with misguided incursions into the art scene. This time it’s controversial son of President Joe Biden, Robert Hunter Biden. Like George Dubya Bush before him, Hunter is banking on politics and his father’s name to sell artwork on the side – when he’s not too busy pretending to be a lawyer, lobbyist or hedge fund manager which are all part of his past resume. You would think he was already satisfied and proficient at taking rich people’s money. The images are not particularly captivating, as they are the expected product of a quintessential ‘process art’. Hunter blows on alcohol inks for the sfumato effect they lend themselves to or layers them in drops that naturally form color circles. Yes, Hunter Biden blows! I wouldn’t be surprised if he is high when he makes the art since he has a reputation for alcohol and drug addiction in addition to abusing his family lineage. Then, because he is the son of the president, he is granted prestigious gallery shows and prices in the tens of thousands for his efforts. And you thought only Trump and his acolytes were quality scam artists! This particular scam even garnered a puff piece by no less than the New York Times where Hunter is portrayed as a ‘sensitive’ artist living in Hollywood while they ignore writing about real native artists. It seems the art world has devolved into a game of networking and connections rather than any talent or training apparent and this is just another symptom of that malady. Hunter Biden is constantly trying to parlay his lack of experience or expertise into high paying positions – as in Ukraine or China. He should have really quit his dalliance before joining the art world. Go back to drooling over nude dancers Hunter Biden and thanks for your part in debasing the art world!
Pandemics and Artists
So it’s been about seven months of Covid-19 now and most things seem about the same as when it started. Artists are programmed to focus exclusively and get lost in their work to the point where everything else disappears so going to the studio and making art at the exclusion of everything else doesn’t seem to have altered many routines at all. Same for the isolation – I believe most artists are naturally reclusive people and loners at heart so mandatory lockdowns don’t seem to deviate so far from the norm. That’s for the practice of art… as for the business of art things aren’t so normal or good. Virtual gallery shows are just not the occasion for social interaction that real exhibits are and Zoom meetings don’t hold a candle to in-person receptions. Most physical exhibits have been cancelled and showing your work in public is a struggle due to restrictions on gatherings and social distancing. Even when they open, galleries are not holding openings or seeing the same amount of traffic since most people are not going out as much – and those that do are making it brief and avoiding other people. I think most artists are beginning to miss the excuse of receptions to gather with other people to discuss life and art. In fact even regular gatherings among friends are now minuscule, cast as suspect and liable to infection so how can you relax and enjoy them? Covid just sucks – and its effects seem to grow longer with time past in this limbo. How strange to miss so many of those ordinary things we took for granted – meeting with friends, going to restaurants and art openings or sporting events. How long until we get back to what was once normal life? Seems like it will be forever at this point – at least six months. All you can say is stay safe and keep making art.
Miami Art Basel Brutality
The news out of Art Basel Miami would seem to be all economic and not controversial if you were to only depend on art sites like Artnet or Hyperallergic. But the most significant story ignored by these sites was covered by The Guardian at this link – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/05/miami-panmela-castro-mural-rio-de-janeiro-removed. The report covers censorship of a mural for the fair by Brazilian artist Panmela Castro depicting an instance of police brutality in Rio de Janeiro. Local Miami police only “complained” about the mural’s content before, according to the report, managers of the ‘Aria 21’ parking section of Art Basel immediately ordered it be painted over, allegedly in order to not “jeopardize good relations with police”. In our times of political tyranny, police militarization, and the Black Lives Matter movement it is imperative that such complicit oppression and suppression of art by police groups instead be denounced and amplified in attention to the public. Especially when the art in question is only being critical of illegal practices and policies involving police in order to correct them. It is not right that an original police crime of brutalization in another country be compounded by local police censorship. It stands to reason that Miami police sympathize and imitate the brutal tactics depicted and so do not want them idolized and immortalized in a local public mural. Shame on Aria 21 and Miami Art Basel for not supporting political art and surrendering to pressure from police. This is not what an Art Fair should stand for, but it is past time to recognize Miami Art Basel for the base commercial venture it really is and not the cultural icon it aspires to be. Real Art is increasing the already great distance from such events when Art Fairs sanction censorship such as this.