"Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Many of us remember being told by our graying ponytail art teachers about a bizarre time when people took art very seriously--seriously enough that an avant-garde piece could spark a riot, or at least invite impassioned physical attack.
I've heard, for instance, that Manet's first exhibition of Olympia in 1865 required police guard to protect it from the swats of passing walking canes and further mischief.
This week a Washington D.C. woman was charged again with assaulting a French "Masterpiece", her second such scathing review in four months. The first was Gauguin's Two Tahitian Women and the second was Matisse's The Plumed Hat, and I must say I share her sentiments. I don't know about you, but it really is a thin veneer of civility that restrains me from pulling half the works of 'art' I encounter off the wall and giving them a good shaking.
There's also this incident involving Obama "Hope" artist Shepard Fairey getting assaulted in Denmark after completing a mural there. His attackers took him for a propagandist and an "Obama Illuminati"--(not sure what an Obama Illuminati is, but I haven't been listening to much Glenn Beck lately)--and graffitied "Go home Yankee Hipster" over his mural. While hilarious and understandable, I'm truly terrified at the prospect of Europe expelling its populations of Yankee Hipsters and sending them back here.
Is violence as a form of art criticism making a comeback in the West? Is this another sign of civilizational collapse, or rather a sign that we're making the first crude steps back towards a seriousness about our culture?
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May '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
I don't share your urge to destroy art, either as tactics or strategy, but on a related note, Heather MacDonald does a great job in City Journal describing the moral and intellectual incoherence of a recent exhibit of graffiti art at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, where they would have been very, very, very unhappy if you were to aim your can of spray paint at their "art" installation.
Edited on August 16, 2011 at 9:56pmOct '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
I wouldn't say I have tactical or strategic urges to destroy art--urges are usually a little less coherent than that. I only desire to give a lot of "art" a good shaking. After all that's how they usually praise the ugliest pieces, they are said to "shake us to our senses", or "snap us back to cold reality" or some such. It's only natural for me and this D.C. lady to want to shake the canvas back.
Oct '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Fredösphere: ...Heather MacDonald does a great job in City Journal describing the moral and intellectual incoherence of a recent exhibit of graffiti art at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, where they would have been very, very, very unhappy if you were to aim your can of spray paint at their "art" installation. · Aug 16 at 12:56pm
Edited on Aug 16 at 12:56 pm
BTW thanks for sending me this link. My favorite line so far is: "If you’d like further proof of the hunger for status and wealth that lies beneath the antiestablishment pose of graffiti vandals, look no further than their toadying to powerful patrons" So true!
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Off topic, Thirsty Artist, but I just want to say that I love that you illustrate your posts! They always catch my eye.
Aug '11
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
This is one of those stories that bends political meaning around itself in such a pretzel-like manner that I think I'm just going to focus on the pleasing words "Go home, Yankee hipster!"
Apr '11
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
"I'm not a huge fan of the cops anyway. The only thing I could see coming out of it was further media commentary like 'street artist whiner Shepard Fairey can't hold it down in a fight so he snitches to the cops'."
So instead he runs to the media to do his whining?
Jun '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
I think it's the art critics, particularly the New York intelligentsia art critics, who need a good shaking. As a fine art student in college I tried like hell to comprehend what it was exactly the critics were saying about some of the ludicrous splatters, swashes and painterly vomit that was exalted as great art in such august magazines like ArtForum but found most of the prose absolutely unintelligible and indecipherable even though it looked remarkably like English. I haven't bothered to follow the New York art scene in decades and I don't think I've missed much.
Jun '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
I do have to say I'm horrified when treasures like Michelangelo's Pieta or Rembrandt's Danae are attacked by deranged individuals and it's sad that museums must take additional precautions to protect these great works. But if extra visitor screening, security, and barriers are what it takes then so be it. As long as the security isn't "handled" by TSA.
Nov '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
I'm not much of a Matisse fan, but Two Tahitian Women really is quite a lovely work (It's at the bottom of the linked page, don't go there if you are offended by bare breasts, reading the Washington Post, or paintings largely done from photographs, which Gauguin used extensively. The colours are not very true, fwiw. ). As for the rapping Olympia with a cane, that was done by Napolean III - who in many ways seems to bear an uncanny resemblence in feckless governance to Obama.. Manet's comment was that he wished the Emperor had put his cane through the painting, as he would then have to pay for it....
As for vandalizing art, it just makes bad work more famous and destroys good art. It's a no win for anyone actually interested in the work. The better answer is just to buy art you enjoy and respect, or learn to make it yourself.
Aug '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Violence is no more a valid form of art criticism than riots are a valid form of political discourse. While we're discussing whom/what we'd like to give a good shaking, I'll sign up for the D.C. vandal. If the art doesn't appeal to you, move along, tell friends how awful you thought it was, or publish a critique. Sometimes, yes, it is bad. Sometimes, though, you're missing something important about the work, and no one should have to sacrifice their own enjoyment because another viewer is short-sighted.
Oct '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
These were truly repulsive incidents--especially involving the Pieta. You make a good point, the works of better artists have been under constant attack from vandals--I believe I read somewhere that the first time the David was displayed rocks were thrown at it. It'll be interesting to see if the Matisse attacker gets off as easy as the Pieta and Danae vandals.
I also like your point about increased security. While I wouldn't be prepared to let a TSA agent 'touch my junk' to board a flight to Italy, I might be inclined to let a Swiss Guard do so to get into the Sistine Chapel.
Oct '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
True, riots are not a form of political discourse... until King George III starts taxing your tea.
And maybe violence shouldn't be a form of art criticism--but you can't say Duchamp wasn't asking for this one.
Jun '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Thirsty Artist
While I wouldn't be prepared to let a TSA agent 'touch my junk' to board a flight to Italy, I might be inclined to let a Swiss Guard do so to get into the Sistine Chapel. · Aug 16 at 9:52pm
The Swiss Guard have those huge spears and guns... TSA agents only get rubber gloves and pervy smiles - which makes your assertion that much more impressive.
Aug '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Thirsty Artist
True, riots are not a form of political discourse... until King George III starts taxing your tea.
Even then it isn't discourse. Similarly, vandalizing artwork might in some sense 'make a statement'. But first and foremost it is vandalism. When tyranny cripples the power of discourse, violence may be justified in order to recover inalienable rights. I don't know what in art would justify the parallel move from criticism to vandalism; the strongest case will be blasphemous art, though even there I've never ultimately been persuaded. But Matisse? Gauguin? Those would be terrible losses.
And maybe violence shouldn't be a form of art criticism--but you can't say Duchamp wasn't asking for this one.
Judging by his correspondence with Hans Richter, Duchamp was asking for that one. What he found inappropriate was the critics attempting to treat Fountain as being worth aesthetic attention--though that was what he expected and why he 'threw it in their faces'.
Dec '10
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
I'm actually quite grateful for the Shepard Fairey indecent. It is good to remember that countries like the U.K. don't have a constitutional right to free speech, and Geert Wilders is a good reminder that most don't protect any offensive speech at all.
I hope the prospect of further lashings-out in the art community would liven up an argument in favor of free speech from the left, thought I won't hold my breath. One can certainly hope though.
Apr '11
Re: "Go Home Yankee Hipster!" Is Violence as a Form of Art Criticism Making a Comeback in the West?
Funny btw, that these people who made the statement "yankee hipster go home", are the same people who have a poster campaign displaying their oikophobia with the slogan "foreigners, please don´t leave us alone with the danes", and who claims that the petty restrictions on immigration to Denmark are racist, and that the borders should be open with no restrictions...
Except for yankee hipsters it seems...