Camilio

Seven days in the (WEST WESTERN) art world

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‘Sarah Thornton’s Seven Days in the Art World is a fascinating read for anyone wanting to delve into the usually inaccessible aspects of the artworld’ writes someone on a blog in WordPress (I literary could not find a name) about her book: seven days in the artworld which I am reading at the moment.

If you are going to buy and read this book, makes sure you have your expectations right. First of all, the title should be: Seven days in the Western art world, and actually the top West part of it! Like New York, LA and London. There are some travels to Japan (also Western, but that in the East, from an American point of view (actually Sarah is from Canada) and Basel (art Basel) but it is not that you will learn much about Japanese culture or the Swiss culture. Also, in Venice it is not necessary about Venice or Italy, it is about business, art business, something I strongly resent. Yes, also artist can make money, but the consumentistic Capitalism behind this, described in this book, is not much else than the Multinationals runed by Old Fat White Privileged People (mostly rich powerful fat man) who avoid paying taxis.
This book is all about the richest of the richest in the artworld and there by a good read, so you learn how to avoid these people and their structures as they are very hierarchical, heliair, rule based (and those are not your rules, until you accept to step in that world as an artist), old friends networks, of which the writer wants to be inside so so much (I think I write that cynical / ironical).

The book is in 7 chapters and so, 7en days. Of which day 6 is Sarah going on a studio visit, where the vulgarity of the art investors really got to me, but also of the artist, in tis example a Japanese artist, the artist Takashi Murakami. I can tell you, there are so many artists out there, also the rich famous elaterin ones where you ask, why? Still, those are, in my opinion, so much more interesting than this one (for example: he is even more commercial than Hirst and Koons combined, so not interesting, and thereby, Koons and Hirst at least started their carreers with interesting and important work), some examples:

So boring obviously, but of course, it will sell great, but I dare to state, that if you take all his works and thrown them in the ocean, nobody will ever miss them or in 500 years from now, this will have no importance in art history books from than, or maybe, somewhere mentioned in a paragraph as: WTF was this art??

So, there is the ‘West Western Art’ world and the ‘Western artworld’ which is New York, LA, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Basel (Art Basel), Milan (design show), Maastricht (TEFAF) and Kassel. I hope I do not forget a city or country, if so, I will add later. What I want to point out with this, that this is quite limited to call The Art World, so, that is way I call it The WESTERN artworld, and I think that is important. Because as you learn that it is almost always about consumentistic capitalistic art and artists (which are not necessarily happy with this, but at the moment they are in this system, they can earn quite some money, if you let go of your autonomist) you can stop your ‘awe’ ‘awesome’ ‘brilliant’ remarks and focus on the other art and artists, those around you where even you are in the west or in the rest of the world. There is so much contemporary art around, also good contemporary art and very much to enjoy. Please keep your eyes open, and if you are going to collect, there is so much out there in Africa, Indonesia, Asia, etc.   

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WHITE LINE / Site Specific Kroller Muller

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WHITE LINE

Where nature is tried to be hold and controled by humans, an art installation could be needed to show the oposite. 

What you see here is a beautiful empty space in the sculpture park (more related to a forrest) of #krollerMollerMuseum, with a bench and a bin (so, not so empty afterall), of which inspires me for making a 3D sketch, of a white plaster (plaster of Paris / gipsen) blok, around 3 beautiful trees (they will not be harmed in any way, I know what I am doing, I did this before). The sketch you see in the foto. The white blok in this sketch is designed in a way that it forms a communication between the surroundings, the trees, the visitors, bin and bench, and you can see this in a before and after situation, where 'the before' is the untouched space, 'the after' situation suddenly has a new void filled, with white plaster which let you rethink the situation (if you like too).

To complete this conceptual installation piece is the same plaster blok inside the museum of Kröller-Müller Museum (in exactly the same time frame of course), free of the trees (but an exact copy, so 3 empty holes), free of the outside elements. It will be protected. An outside camera will film the outside wide element, and project inside, next to the installation inside. See Foto.
 

The outside element will experience the effects of rain, wind, sun and moving trees (and everything else what nature throws at it), and will start to wear and tear as a result of it. The 2 elements will grow even further apart, the public can see that on the screen next to the inside installation), isn't it sad but also romantic in a way??.

This site specific art installation is interactive in the way that as visitor you are likely to start to think about the realtion between the beem, the benach and the bin, as in the trees are now connected to human behaviour, the need of a beanch an a bin in a forrest, but also if you would sit in the bench, you would likely to feel the weiht of the blok above you, as the sarwd of Damocles.  The connection inside you can make as visitor as well, like a compariso is easy made and also the abscense of the trees and the other elements could leed you to think of what is outside and what is inside, in context of the white block, the museum and the nature.

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Easier said than done

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Great artists who should have evolved or tried new things.
Easier said than done

Starting their careers with promise, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons have seen little evolution in their work over the past decade; it's become more of the same, driven by commercial interests, as I see it, from my position. The Western art world continues to support them, I guess protecting their market value. However, I find Richard Serra's case more intriguing. Despite his impressive work in the Qatar desert in 2014, I question why artists, who I believe should be critical and engaged, collaborate with Middle Eastern regimes for oil money.

What astounds me is the remarkable creativity and boldness Richard Serra displayed in his early years, evident in his striking works with lead splashes and thick metal gestures, as seen in the photos I post here witht his blog:

These works were more minimalistic, site-specific, and daring, with a raw edge. I began noticing a change in his approach after his presentation at the Venice Biennale in 2001, where he received the Golden Lion. His subsequent works lack the same connection to the space, feeling overly grandiose and sterile. These are personal observations, and I acknowledge that critiquing art practice is not easy. While Serra remains a hero to me, I can't help but feel disheartened by the trend of many great artists resorting to repetitive spectacle, monopolizing the art world and stifling new talent.

It's not solely the artists' fault; the Western art world operates more and more like a business, prioritizing value over artistic growth. This focus on profit makes Western art predictable, sanitized, and ultimately shallow.

I wonder why Western modern and contemporary art institutions struggle to embrace change and veer in new directions. While it's understandable for artists to stick to what brings them success, it doesn't reflect the innovative spirit that made them great in the first place. However, I recognize that my critique may seem simplistic.

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DRIONs PILL

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Drions PILL
white wax / 28-5-2020
I LOVE LIFE / LIVE

Dions PILL doesn't exist yet but should be. It is a hypothetical suicide pill. The pill consists of 2 halves, or 2 pills. You take one and have some days to think it over, when you take the second halve you will die peacefully. If you don’t take the second pill, you live on. 

My artwork is celebrating this pill and its “creator” Huib Drion, a former Dutch Supreme Court Judge and professor of civil law and that all the discussion if you are allowed to take your own life, I am suggesting that it will be China again to start making this pill, as this country is full of surprises. One of them is also the COVID-19 virus coming from Wuhan. Yes, it could have been “ created”  or coming to existence in another country or wed market, maybe escaped from a laboratory, I am more surprised that all warming systems and responses where in place, but not reacted to and hence the quick existence of a pandemic.

If governments are asking all humans, not in essential jobs, to stay home, you also have to provide metal help, which, until today is not in place or worked on. So, providing mental help, mental structures, etc. But also give people something “humane” if they want to leave their lives. I would also plea for a sleeping pill that let you sleep through a pandemic like this, and the anxiety and panic it is causing.

The reason nothing humane was offered through humans asked to stay home and opposing lockdowns and evening clocks on them, was and is brought op by politicians who have very busy jobs not stopping to go to work themselves. This is unacceptable to me, which is the same level of unacceptance many have, many politicians, to a positive advice on Drions Pill, the same which were supporting these harsh lockdowns, not supporting humane mental solutions or supporting mental healthcare in general. They don’t care, they don’t know and they don’t have visions. Also, on the advisory boards for this pandemic (in Holland that was #OMT and #RIVM) where not people with an intelligence or profession with human behavioural skills. The “behaviour” of a virus is important to know and research, human behaviour even more so, because they are spreading this virus. 

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I love Louise

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One of my favorite artists is Louise Bourgeois (I learned a lot from her, just looking at her art), and not only because she is not an art fair art / market artist (artists like #JeffKoons and #DamienHirst) but a great authentic lady that worked until she died aged 98 in 2010. Her greatest works: The Cells. (See the short video). I once saw her work's / installation / drawings (her night works when she couldn't sleep, She saw those not as artworks, not even sketches) in Berlin, and it was a great exhibition, and it is always after that as meeting old friends when I see work of her again, like the last time in Tate Modern L

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TOILET TENT AND BED.

BLOG 2 / 20-1-2021 / Camilio van Lenteren / Visual artist.

TITLE:
Toilet, Tent and Bed

SUBTITEL: a ready-made always needs an action and a context.

READING INSTRUCTIONS:
English is not my mother tongue, I am dyslectic and I write with dark humor in mind with a pinch of sarcasm. Yes I look in the mirror on a weekly basis, I practice what I preach and I make mistakes too.

 INTRODUCTION:
What wonders me in the Western Art world is the development of ready-mades considered as great artworks (mostly years later) but you never are told how important the context of the 4 walls are, the work is moved in to (exhibition space / gallery / museum / art fair), and the time frame of the moment. 2 great (the greatest) ready-made’s where submissions for an art prize and an inaugural exhibition. These context and time frame are so important, that without those (context an

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ANXIETY AS INSPIRATION

BLOG 1 / 15-1-2021 / Camilio van Lenteren / Visual artist. 

TITLE
Bey bey 2020, welcome 2021. A general text on art installation 'Isolation Hibernation (torpor) Box' (art installation / performance 2019):

SUBTITLE: 
An inconvenient personal truth /  vision, anxiety

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