Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Black Hole of Charisma


Catching up from my art reading holiday hiatus, I came across this gem from Charlie Finch on artnet:

...the art world is the black hole of charisma, sucking magic in from the outside world until it disappears. Picasso, he who could make love to a woman with his gaze alone, was the last truly charismatic figure in our esthetic crater. Warhol, the anti-charismatic, began the suckage process, feeding off Elvis, Marilyn and Jackie. Martyrdom fed his output, even after he almost became a martyr himself.

Artists, mimicking Warholism, wallow in a dark bath of their own wretched parasitism on the wider charismatic culture. Terence Koh’s comparing himself to Naomi Campbell is a recent pathetic example. Howdy Doody Koons, Death Mask Damien, Barney the Vaseline Dinosaur: a trio of dick-diddling neurotics who couldn’t get elected dogcatcher in Peoria.

Are there really no charismatic artists working today? Do we want any? I think it certainly they certainly make the art world, if not life in general, more interesting. The first that come to mind are Christo and Jeanne-Claude. What about Eva and Adele (pictured above)? Locally, how about Brian Presnell. Any others???

4 Responses to “Black Hole of Charisma”

Anonymous said...
January 7, 2008 at 6:57 PM

The idea of charismatic artists is very irritating to me. Only insiders are privvy to this charisma, so by valuing it so highly you're just reinforcing the idea of a closed-off priviledged art world. I think the work should be the star, not the artist. We're a long way gone from that, though. Charlie Finch is a weasle, by the way. Did he name a female artist of the past he thought had charisma? I doubt it. Unless by charisma he meant great breasts.


Anonymous said...
January 7, 2008 at 8:52 PM

Boom, pow, suprise!

Brian Presnell = charisma. Hmm... Well, I guess the word "charisma" is open for debate.


Anonymous said...
January 24, 2008 at 3:38 AM

isn't terence koh really charismatic


Anonymous said...
January 25, 2008 at 7:15 PM

Eva and Adele are not a picture of charisma to me, I get scared every time I see them in art shows...
I mean I picture them naked doing each other and I spend a whole month without sex myself...

nanotech


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