Three deeply regressed whiteys, Joe Bradley, Dan Colen and Rob Pruitt, collected, fawned over by much of the art press and, worst of all, continually exhibited by lazy blue chip dealers, have created a salon of nauseating, tasteless excess.
In a way, you can’t blame them: Damien Hirst gave them permission to unload the contents of a battered psyche into the homes of the stupid wealthy. Bradley, Colen and Pruitt are just doing it on a budget (relative to Hirst, of course). Their indiscriminate aborting of everything that is intelligent in art has the effect of shutting down Marcel Duchamp’s famous dictum that the viewer completes the work. The BCP express shuts down and annihilates the viewer on a high speed rail of stupidity.
via artnet Magazine.
14 Comments
I try to act mature and responsible, trying to capitalize on the use of language and craft when writing…I really do try. But I make mistakes and they become apparent quickly. I also give being open to all types of work a very good shot.
But this work and other work not unlike it makes me sick. It’s a sad statement about some dealers and the control they have over an art market that is fickle and at times insulting. So much so that I rarely respond to articles critical of what is and is not “in” because I assume it is a mistake. It must be. I am an optimist and assume the mistake will correct itself, but with so many experts perpetuating this mistake it becomes difficult at times to retain an optimistic belief. To that I say with all graciousness.
Fuck You!
YES.
I don’t know the artists, but am very faimilar with Damien Hirst. He is a mediocre artist (IMO) and a fantastic salesman. But that often is the route to success these days.
I saw Hirst’s Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain, at MCA in Denver, and the piece has stayed with me ever since. The piece is thought-provoking on many levels, as good art should be.
I wish that I could say the same for works by painters like Monet.
@phillip evanesce, I like Monet, but I agree about Hirst. His fame is not without merit. Some of his works, like Exquisite Pain, are both interesting on a conceptual work of art, as well as a physical object.
@Erik, I agree. Hirst may be a master of self promotion, but there is substance behind the hype. I am more than fine with that. I like Monet as well.
I am just trying to imagine the reaction if an author of such a hit piece had criticized three negroes or three chinamen, or three faggots instead of three “whiteys.”
@t1, As a white person, I’m not offended by “whitey.” My gay friends are offended by faggot, and my black friends look askance when someone under 70 says “negro. ” My asian friends are offended when someone calls them Chinamen. especially if they are Korean or Vietnamese.
Forgive me, I must be one of the ignorant unwashed masses, but if I want to see contemporary art I click “Explore” on Flickr.com. Please keep your politics of personality which drives so much of the ignorance and conformity in the so-called contemporary art world. Just my $0.02 — which is more than I would pay for the so-called art by Bradley, Colen, Pruitt and Hirst.
i hate to be “that guy”, but as i learned from sports talk radio host colin cowherd, you should celebrate success even when you might think it is undeserved. if they can get away with it, more power to them. remember…jaded, bitter people never go far.
@Phil Jackson, word.
What a waste of time and space. Ugh…
Meh. NYC galleries have full of the stuff for decades. I agree with t1. Seems like merely a weird excuse to use the word “whitey” and vent some anger–lots of anger.
They can all suck Matthew Barney’s left nut.
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