1 The talent for self-promotion is a prerequisite for those inclined to pursue the artistic calling.
2 The budding genius must learn above all else to respect money and power.
3 A reverence for critical authority must dominate his life. He must strictly adhere to his subservient standing, and never forget that art is merely an object whose purpose is to facilitate the critic's realisation of his critical potential.
4 The riskiest thing an artist can have is too strong a backbone. Woe betide that miserable creatively inclined creature not able to subdue his obdurate spinal column in the course of daily bowing and scraping.
5 Let him therefore take cognisance of the fact that he is a subservient member of society, nothing more in essence than a slightly better employee. His demands can, of course, be taken under consideration only when society's more essential needs for a family car and a holiday to the Pyramids have been satisfied.
6 The artist may take quiet pleasure in his craft. Let him not, however, forget that fashion changes every five years. He would therefore do well not to indulge in too much 'quiet pleasure', and stay well informed of every new set of marching orders.
7 Aside from the talent for self-promotion, the most important asset an artist can have is a girlfriend or beautiful wife. Her utility can be imagined in a variety of ways. Who other than the artist's beloved could better soothe the transaction riddled, multinational takeover scheme saturated, cosmic thunder stricken brain of the champagne manufacturer or leather dealer? With her gentle hand she can stroke the mighty one's chaotic brow and, resting him against her soft body, induct him into the mysteries of dreaming and art.
8 The artist can know nothing of religion, politics, and life. He must not forget that sylphlike prescence that he is, his only purpose consisting in sprinkling the world with brightly coloured pollen. He must serve the amusement and delight of the mighty. The 'merry little artist folk' had best keep in mind their humble limitations. It is therefore advised that should the artist be endowed by nature with a little sense and a modicum of critical faculty, he keep these qualities to himself. Only insofar as he maintains an aura of artlessness can the artist expect to be recognised by the public.
9 The best thing an artist can do, of course, is to die. Only when the last living vestige of this bothersome personality has disintegrated in his grave can his fellow men take pleasure in his work. Only then does the artist's work truly belong to his contemporaries, for if they buy it at the right time it is as good as if they had made it. The artist is strongly advised to die at the right time. Only thereby can he put the finishing touches on his work.
10 The artist who follows these principles will have a good life. His fellow men will gladly accord this well respected and untroublesome element in the fabric of the state all the love and recognition he deserves.
(Max Beckmann, 1927)
24 March 2004
23 March 2004
Conservative punks
You need to register to read it, but here is a New York Times article on conservative punks (of all things). It seems they're pro-Bush and not into things like Punkvoter, and so have set up things like Punkvoter Lies and Conservative Punk.
Bizarre.
Bizarre.
22 March 2004
Reminder
Ben's show at the Christopher Moore Gallery (35 Ghuznee St) opens tonight at 5.30 pm.
Matt's got a piece in a group show at Janne Land's opening tomorrow (see this for details).
Matt's got a piece in a group show at Janne Land's opening tomorrow (see this for details).
Scary
NoRightTurn has a link to this story about discussions straight after September 11:
'Rumsfeld was saying that we needed to bomb Iraq,' [former White House terrorism advisor Richard] Clarke said. 'And we all said ... no, no. Al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan. We need to bomb Afghanistan. And Rumsfeld said there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan. And there are lots of good targets in Iraq. I said, "Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with it."
'Initially, I thought when he said, "There aren't enough targets in - in Afghanistan," I thought he was joking.'
Well, you would, wouldn't you?
In another part he says:
'The president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, "I want you to find whether Iraq did this." Now he never said, "Make it up." But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said Iraq did this.
'I said, "Mr. President. We've done this before. We have been looking at this. We looked at it with an open mind. There's no connection."
'He came back at me and said, "Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a connection." And in a very intimidating way. I mean that we should come back with that answer. We wrote a report.'
Clarke continued, 'It was a serious look. We got together all the FBI experts, all the CIA experts. We wrote the report. We sent the report out to CIA and found FBI and said, "Will you sign this report?" They all cleared the report. And we sent it up to the president and it got bounced by the National Security Advisor [Condoleeza Rice] or Deputy. It got bounced and sent back saying, "Wrong answer. ... Do it again." '
'Rumsfeld was saying that we needed to bomb Iraq,' [former White House terrorism advisor Richard] Clarke said. 'And we all said ... no, no. Al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan. We need to bomb Afghanistan. And Rumsfeld said there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan. And there are lots of good targets in Iraq. I said, "Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with it."
'Initially, I thought when he said, "There aren't enough targets in - in Afghanistan," I thought he was joking.'
Well, you would, wouldn't you?
In another part he says:
'The president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, "I want you to find whether Iraq did this." Now he never said, "Make it up." But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said Iraq did this.
'I said, "Mr. President. We've done this before. We have been looking at this. We looked at it with an open mind. There's no connection."
'He came back at me and said, "Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there's a connection." And in a very intimidating way. I mean that we should come back with that answer. We wrote a report.'
Clarke continued, 'It was a serious look. We got together all the FBI experts, all the CIA experts. We wrote the report. We sent the report out to CIA and found FBI and said, "Will you sign this report?" They all cleared the report. And we sent it up to the president and it got bounced by the National Security Advisor [Condoleeza Rice] or Deputy. It got bounced and sent back saying, "Wrong answer. ... Do it again." '
21 March 2004
The weekend
Rose and I watched The Man Who Fell To Earth on Friday night. Strangely enough, I'd never seen it before. I really enjoyed it - though some people might find it pretentious and a bit dated. I thought Bowie was brilliant and that it was nice not to have everything spelled out for you. The story-telling was very linear. It was just that there were sudden jumps in time and location, not to mention the surreal inserts, and lots of things were left for you to fill in.
We had some friends round for lunch on Saturday. Sarah was dropping off a small proofreading job for me, so we decided to 'make it a bit social' (as Sarah put it). It was a stinking hot day. We took the table out on to the balcony and had lunch out there. Very nice.
On Saturday night, we went to Festival stuff. Rose had manged to double book herself - gettings tickets to go to Saltarello with her daughters and to Tan Dun with me at the same time. Rose ended up going to Saltrello and I went to Tan Dun with Paul. Tan Dun was excellent, particularly the water percussion in the first half and the integration of videos of Chinese folk music with the orchestra in the second. I really liked the stone drumming.
On the front page of the paper this morning is a big story about the al-Qaeda no 2 man apparently coming to NZ in the early 90s. No doubt that'll get the pundits buzzing.
We had some friends round for lunch on Saturday. Sarah was dropping off a small proofreading job for me, so we decided to 'make it a bit social' (as Sarah put it). It was a stinking hot day. We took the table out on to the balcony and had lunch out there. Very nice.
On Saturday night, we went to Festival stuff. Rose had manged to double book herself - gettings tickets to go to Saltarello with her daughters and to Tan Dun with me at the same time. Rose ended up going to Saltrello and I went to Tan Dun with Paul. Tan Dun was excellent, particularly the water percussion in the first half and the integration of videos of Chinese folk music with the orchestra in the second. I really liked the stone drumming.
On the front page of the paper this morning is a big story about the al-Qaeda no 2 man apparently coming to NZ in the early 90s. No doubt that'll get the pundits buzzing.
20 March 2004
Dodgy dealing
Heard about the art dealer with the not very original plan for selling the same painting several times? There's a Doctor Who story that does something similar.
19 March 2004
Bowie art
I'm on a bit of a Bowie kick at the moment. I'm listening to my all-time favourite, Hunky Dory, quite a lot (and, yes, there's even a quiz about it). Did you know he's into his contemporary art and a big supporter of emerging artists? Check out the website.
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