#notessential

This is simply a surface issue and more in-depth issues remain on the back-burner. Realizing this is the first step to any future independence of stigmas and stereotypes that plague the community. What will it take for gay men to live in their truest intent for life?

I’ve been paying close attention to the current state of art and the direction in which it is moving. I am finding that more and more, artists are re-appropriating work, sometimes appropriately, but many times creating close to direct recreations of some work. Art, as it is today, is headed toward this need for re-appropriation and I think it is a necessity to pay homage and use global pop-culture as the foundation to works.

A couple of months ago, I visited the New Photography exhibition at MoMA several times because I found it difficult to really grasp the full experience from the first visit. More than twenty-five years after the first New Photography exhibition, the series continues to highlight MoMA’s commitment to the work of less familiar artists and seeks to represent the most interesting accomplishments in contemporary photography. Since its inception in 1985, more than 70 artists from more than 15 countries have been represented; the 2010 show featured Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Amanda Ross-Ho, and Alex Prager. I found that all of the work had been heavily influenced by pop culture and the way we process information. Whether having a photo start from fashion week, or Amazon.com, every photographer showed their interest and expertise in taking photographs from all different types of places and using them to create their own images. Understanding this helped me understand Alex Prager a little more. I had the opportunity to meet her, and was disappointed by her upbringing and education (or lack thereof), but also amazed at her ability to make it to MoMA, and more recently, shooting Bottega Veneta’s Spring Campaign (but that’s a whole different story for a different post). The curators of New Photography 2010 deserve just as much praise as the photographers chosen for the show. We live in a world with a heavy emphasis on technology reproduction. The simple fact that when you google “New Photography 2010” and six of the first ten images are Alex Prager’s work just shows the curator’s success. What I question is if having photographers who use other work to make their own work is viable and if photographers begin to use those “new” images for their work, then how much of it is actually THEIRS. The New Photography show is precise on its commentary on 21st century viral platforms and our connection to pop culture with consumerist and subversive media, and is a clear example of arts current head toward re-appropriation and reproduction. More presently, pop super stars Rihanna and Kanye West have released music videos which have both been casted as unoriginal. Rihanna’s S&M video directly recreates imagery from David LaChappelle’s most famed work. Directed by Melina Matsoukas, who graduated from NYU and did her graduate thesis on music videos has been in the business for about five years, directing videos for Beyonce, Lady GaGa and even Whitney Houston. While the S&M video is a direct rip of LaChappelle’s work and has stirred enough controversy for LaChappelle to sue, from the success of New Photography, you would think that work of this kind would be praised.  In Kanye West’s All of the Lights, which Rihanna is also featured, \ concepts from a 2009 French film Enter The Void are obviously present, but while very similar, Kanye West uses the audio to very much differentiate the two videos.  In my opinion, Kanye West is well-versed in music history and theory and art history, evident in his years of producing for other artists and himself sampling records from Andrea Bocelli to Gil Scott-Heron and Bon Iver and referencing artists Vanessa Beecroft, and Jeff Koons, among others, in his Runaway film. 

As The New York Times Review for New Photography states, “ [Artist’s] care about visual literacy, not theory. They revel in color, and in the physical presence … And they’re openly nostalgic, while their predecessors were critical.” I’m not sure if the world is ready, particularly America, but art, like history, will repeat itself. The influx of re-appropriation and the question of the suitability of the homage will linger on until the next movement in art begins. 

Below are links to commentary on MoMA's New Photography 2010, Rihanna's S&M, and Kanye West's All of the Lights and Runaway:

NYT Review for New Photography 2010: goo.gl/nXx8T

Rihanna Commentary : goo.gl/dG46A

All of The Lights Commentary: goo.gl/XqTOC

Hip hop music is experiencing a drought of substantial, fresh lyricists. With every generation there's a "dumb down" of what real music is. Younger generations would rather enjoy Soulja Boy over a classic Nas album. Are these artist doing their homework, wanting to bring awareness and open the minds of their core fans? Or is it simply a marketing scam to further feed their ego? Kanye West and Swizz Beatz are both profound artists, so maybe they have a better understanding and reason behind these references. Where does it leave Jay-Z?

The article was written by a self-proclaimed "hip hop filter" blog. Interpreting various transitions the hip hop culture endures to determine the authenticity, for the real hip hop lovers.