Art and Celebrity

John A. Walker

Description

The growing cult of the celebrity in contemporary culture is throwing up paradoxical ideas about the contradictions between 'high' art and mass appeal and blurring the already unstable boundaries between art, commodity and popular culture.



This is a lively and accessible study of the phenomenon, informed by a look at what happens when the 'serious' world of art collides with celebrity. Global culture is now dominated by celebrities, some of whom, like Madonna and Stallone, are art collectors and some, like Dennis Hopper and David Bowie, are part-time artists.



Walker explains how artists such as Warhol, Gavin Turk, Jeff Koons, Elizabeth Peyton and Alison Jackson contribute to, but also critique, the cult of celebrity by depicting film celebrities, rock stars and royalty in paintings and statues. Celebritisation has overtaken the art world too: Walker surveys 14 art stars of the twentieth century from Dali to Tracey Emin. He also reviews alternatives: the left wing pantheon of figures such as Mao, Che Guevara and Rosa Luxemburg, and pictorial celebrations of the people.
1. Celebrities as Artists and Art Collectors

2. Artists depict Celebrities

3. Simulation and Celebrities

4. Alternative Heroes

5. Artists as Celebrities

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• Political Science
• Democracy

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 décembre 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783718894
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Art and Celebrity
Frontispiece: Vladimir Dubosarsky & Alexander Vinogradov, En Plein Air (detail), (1995).
Painting, oil on canvas, 240 × 240 cm, reproduced courtesy of the artists and Vilma Gold Gallery, London.
 
Art and Celebrity
John A. Walker
 
 
First published 2003 by Pluto Press
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and 22883 Quicksilver Drive,
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www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © John A. Walker 2003
The right of John A. Walker to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7453 1850 9 hardback
ISBN 0 7453 1849 5 paperback ISBN 978 1 7837 1889 4 ePub ISBN 978 1 7837 1890 0 Kindle
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Celebrities as Art Collectors and Artists
2 Artists Depict Celebrities
3 Simulation and Celebrities
4 Alternative Heroes
5 Art Stars
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
 
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Derek Manley and Rob Orman for assistance in obtaining research materials and to Mike Hazzledine for references supplied and comments on early drafts of the book. I am also grateful for information and comments to Gen Doy, Katy Deepwell, Rita Hatton, Dr Jan-Christopher Horak (curator of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum), Professor Brandon Taylor, Sharon Hayes of Bedford Borough Council, Helen Wylie of Tate Liverpool, Sue Watling, Renee Coppola of the Broad Art Foundation (Santa Monica), Michael Marek (public relations officer of the Crazy Horse organisation), Danielle Rice of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Thanks are also due to all the artists, galleries and photographers who have supplied me with information and images, and given permission for the latter to be reproduced: the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, Clive Barker, Mary Barone, Gerard Basquiat/Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Stephen Bates of the Catto Gallery (London), Sandow Birk, David Bowie, Michael J. Browne, Roderick Coyne, Eugene Doyen, André Durand and the Camera Press Agency, Matt Faber of Associated Press, the Fogg Art Museum, Chris Glass, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Greenwich Public Libraries, Alexander Guy, Maggi Hambling, Susan Hiller, Peter Howson, Wendy Hurlock of the Archives of American Art, Alison Jackson, John Keane, Karen Kilimnik, Scott King, Jeff Koons, Richard Krause, Sebastian Krüger and Edition Crocodile, Johnnie Shand Kydd, Hugh MacLeod, Andrew Macpherson, David McCall of PA Photos, Sir Paul McCartney, Kerry Millett of Mother, Yasumasa Morimura and Natsuko Odate of Yoshiko Isshiki Office (Tokyo), Gerald Ogilvie-Laing, Julian Opie, Elizabeth Peyton, Grant Rusk of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Sadie Coles HQ, Sebastião Salgado, A. Thomas and Cynthia Schomberg, Martin Sharp, Joanne Stephens, Celia Sterne of the Photographic Library of English Heritage, Gavin Turk and the Jay Jopling/White Cube Gallery, Winnie Tyrrell of Glasgow Museums Photolibrary, Gerrie van Noord of the Artangel Trust, Jessica Voorsanger, Ian Walters and Tim Wilcox of Manchester Art Gallery.
While every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of art works and photographs, the publishers would be glad to hear from anyone who should have been credited so that corrections can be made in any future editions.
 
Introduction

Celebrity is the main currency of our economy, the prime value in our news and the main impetus in our charitable works. It is the predominant means of giving and receiving ideas, information and entertainment. Nothing moves in our universe without the imprint of celebrity. 1
In the past 30 years, the interpenetration of the domains of art and celebrityhood has had a significant impact on the image-making strategies of the media industry. The mutual influences have been so great that sometimes it is hard to distinguish art from advertisement. 2
… the incremental celebritization of the contemporary artist has been fuelled by big sales and a buoyant market, which helps, but it is not the whole picture … New Fame … is achieved via headlining, instantly recognizable work, sexy galleries, high profile events, media ease and an extraordinary cross-fertilization into other arenas. Top of the Pops. Advertising. Food. Fashion. Film. Brands. Not since David Hockney painted the fashion guru Ossie Clark have artists fused their traditional world of private creativity with such a popular market of commerce and publicity. 3
While Ziauddin Sardar’s claims – see quotation one above – about celebrity, which are shared by a number of commentators, are somewhat exaggerated, there is no denying its considerable importance in contemporary developed societies. This book will argue that artists are imbricated in the culture of celebrity because they contribute images, statues, monuments and simulated relics to it, because some artists impersonate celebrities, and because others participate in its social rituals and enjoy the status of celebrities (they will be called ‘art stars’). The kind of art the latter produce is often influenced by their desire for fame and fortune. At the same time, other artists seek to criticise or deconstruct or play with celebrity or to find alternatives to the depiction of celebrities. In addition, some celebrities outside the world of art collect art while others are spare-time artists (they will be called ‘celebrity-artists’).
Furthermore, the sociologist Chris Rojek has argued that, since the eighteenth century, the growth of celebrity culture has been closely bound up with the aestheticisation of everyday life, that taste ‘is pivotal in celebrity culture’ and that ‘groupings of fans can be regarded as taste cultures’. 4
The history of fame has been described in detail by Leo Braudy in his book The Frenzy of Renown (1986), and the main characteristics of celebrity and how is it constructed or manufactured have been analysed by sociologists, journalists and historians of the mass media and entertainment industries (see Bibliography). Theorists have also discussed the various social functions – such as social integration – celebrity culture is thought to perform and its paradoxical relationship to democracy. 5 While it will not be possible to repeat all their findings, a summary of the celebrity system that emerged during the twentieth century is in order:
1)
Psychological desires, social needs and economic demands for celebrities.
2)
A pool of celebrities, exhibitionists and wannabes eager to fulfil those demands no matter what the personal cost.
3)
Support agencies and marketing companies ready to promote aspirants and to organise events for their public appearance so that they attain ‘high visibility’.
4)
A range of cultural industries, such as film and sport, which employs celebrities.
5)
A spectrum of mass media willing to discuss, glorify or denigrate them.
6)
Mass audiences, celebrity-watchers and groups of fans fascinated by celebrities.
7)
Celebrities, designers and manufacturers happy to generate merchandise for fans to buy; plus dealers and auction houses willing to sell memorabilia to collectors.
8)
Organisations and businesses willing to pay celebrities to promote and endorse their products and services; charities and political parties that rely on celebrities to support their causes.
Evidently, celebrities and the images and products based on them are all commodities (objects with both use and exchange values) within capitalism. Celebrities sign legal contracts so that managers, businesses and corporations can exploit them for profit. The fact that many celebrities are highly paid and can accumulate fortunes does not alter their status as commodities except that, once they realise their economic power, many celebrities try to take more control over their careers.
It has been estimated that human beings each know personally about 250 people. However, via hearsay and the media they know about a much larger number of people even if it is just their names and professions. Most humans are curious about their fellow creatures and enjoy gossiping about them. We also seem to need people to admire and detest; hence, role models, heroes, hate figures and scapegoats. Doubtless, such needs have their origin in children’s dependent and subservient relationships with their parents, authority figures that are both admired and feared. However, children soon discover that society beyond the family is governed by other powerful figures such as teachers, the police, employers and political, religious, military and business leaders. Many teenagers reject parental control and experience strong sexual desires, which prompt them to seek alternative, younger role models in their peer group and in film, fashion, pop music and sport. 6 Teenagers are also the group most troubled by identity issues and most concerned about their appearance; consequently they try out various identities and looks. The popular American illustrator Norman Rockwell represented such a moment in his 1954 painting Girl at Mirror : a girl studies her reflection while holding a movie magazine open at a portrait of the film star Jane Russell. Many teenagers copy the way pop stars dress but eventually find they cannot afford to keep pace with stars like Madonna who regularly change their image.
In the ancient and medieval worlds, the populace may only have known about their rulers via edicts and legends, and visually by such means as public statues or the profiles of h