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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Visual Art / Mailbag Debacle of a Talk at SAM Last Night?

Posted by Jen Graves on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 2:45 PM

Oh, dear—artist talks can go south in a million different ways. SAM member Patricia Churchhill sent this pissed-off email about last night's talk with artist Nick Cave and Cynthia Rowley. She's right that some artists are better off not talking. Cave—my recent podcast here—was neither great nor terrible when I talked to him. It sounds like the uncomfortable presence of money and luxury in art and fashion came up—but not quite up enough.

I knew we were in trouble when the moderator didn’t know how to pronounce Schiaparelli. Confimation came with the inane slide show of celebrities, (exactly what did Liza Minelli have to do with it),
which was suppose to substantiate the importance of cross-pollinization between the art and fashion worlds.

Two strikes could possibly have been forgiven as small town Seattle introduces the main event: a discussion between Nick Cave and Cynthia Rowley. One hoped the two of them had some relationship, some history, something to say about each other’s work. Yeah, one could hope. These two people had virtually nothing to say to each other or to us.

The most substantive sense was that they spend their energies trying to market stuff no one needs. How about a sticker book for $34.00. How are those selling??? Or maybe Cynthia Rowley candy????

Finally, the moderator irritated everyone who had paid $10 or more a head and made an effort to get to the museum, (on a night when the galleries where the fabulous Nick Cave exhibit could not be seen — great planning), by saying that, really, we couldn’t hold up Nick and Cynthia because they had to get to the airport. As if they were doing us all a great favor by submitting to our attention.

Sometimes the artist needs to let their work speak for himself and stay out of sight. I had waited to see Nick Cave the night of the REmix party and gave up after twenty minutes in the hot crowded gallery. Maybe he was better solo, but maybe he was even more arrogant. This was an embarrassing non-event for the museum. Next time just have a reception for the donors and leave me out of it.

A member of SAM,
patricia churchill

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It's a shame that, with the omnipresent video capabilities of most mobile phones like the iPhone and Android, this was almost certainly recorded and is now posted with a soundtrack on YouTube to a disco beat.

Sticker books are great for keeping your Unicorn morphs of famous celebrities in.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 31, 2011 at 3:20 PM

Breaking news one SAM member disappointed in artist tal......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Posted by danindowntown on March 31, 2011 at 3:24 PM

I was there last night, and it was indeed a huge mess. Cynthia Rowley in particular had nothing to say, and seemed confused herself on what the point of the Q&A was. The moderator's slide show was indeed a stretch, but at least she had an engaging presence. Cave and Rowley were dead inside.

Also, will people ever learn how to appropriately ask a question at one of these lectures? Don't talk for five minutes when you should be asking a terse question, and don't try to sell your own art to the speaker.

Posted by JeffD on March 31, 2011 at 4:12 PM

Oh no! An artist wasn't a great talker! Oh dear no!

Now I have more reasons to love Nick Cave! Talking means $#!t, it in the work you pretentious @$$holes.

Posted by hamsta on March 31, 2011 at 4:23 PM

I saw Cave at the Remix event. His work is great. The Q&A was okay, if a bit rushed. It was nice to put a body and voice to the pieces, just to try and connect those in my mind. Beyond that, I wouldn't say there were any stunning insights offered. I think he'd already done one earlier that night. Probably he was tired. Who knows how much time he'd spent over the previous days helping to set up the show, etc.

Or perhaps he's just more comfortable and articulate speaking through his work. That certainly would describe a lot of artists. I was pretty blown away by the work. So there's definitely something to the dude imho.

I completely agree about the 5 minute wind-up to a question. Frustrating.

Posted by j-lon on April 1, 2011 at 1:01 AM

When I heard of this weird mash-up, I was shocked. OK she was here for a fashion show at Nordstrom & ummm, they are both African-American and she designs clothes and he is an artist whose work involves aspects of peacocking and pageantry... whose brainy idea was this? A conversation with Nick Cave & Rene Bravmann, the awesome art history prof at the U who specializes in African Art would be a great combo and an enlightening experience for all. I’m so tired of museums selling themselves out to donors and trying to produce hip flashy events. Teach us something, expand our horizons for chrissakes!

Posted by olive oyl on April 1, 2011 at 9:15 AM