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-alex

The Art is Dead Manifesto Part: 1

"Beauty is Fleeting" www.alexchavez.com

The Art is Dead Manifesto Part: 1

As an artist who put down his brushes to work in digital collage back in '99 I feel it is is all a verification of the art is dead theory. Art has reached the end of history and now all there is to do is re-mix old ideas to re-invent new imagery. It happened across the arts best exemplified by sampling in rap music, due in part with the advent of digital media. Marcel Duchamp put the first nail in the coffin by claiming that anything could be art, and Andy Warhol the last nail by mechanically reproducing appropriated images.

If you throw enough money at a lie it will become true.

Is art history dead or I'm I giving too much importance to the "art market". Does the most expensive art necessarily mean that it is the most important? (example: Van Gogh). Or is the unregulated art market being manipulated. That is what seems to be the case with the work of Gustav Klimt (see "The Mona Lisa Curse" excerpt below). And this may be the case throughout history.  If you throw enough money at a lie it will become true. (gerbils variant)

What started with Andy Warhol pointing out the shallowness of fame was fuel injected by Jeff Koons and has been grotesquely distorted into Damien "Money is my Medium"  Hirst.

Possibly like Van Gogh more meaningful artist will be uncovered and revered by art historians. un-fortune-ately long after they are dead.

Duchamp was Here

Well I cannot start off the year without continuing where I left off last month.  After reading the Hegalian / Danto thesis I realize that in order to agree you must believe two premisises.

1. that art is progressing linearly through time
2. and that there will be an end based on Hegals self realization goal

So it can be argued that art is or never was progressing from ancient and primitive art to classical art to modern art and finally conceptual art which put the first nail in the art coffin. (see Duchamp) It can even be argued that time is not linear at all. And there is indeed some scientific proof to that.

Also it can (and has been) argued that even if history is linear and may be progressing this does not necessarily means that it has an end. According to Hegals thesis all things are striving towards self realization and when self realization is achieved  the thing no longer needs to exist. Hegal used art as an example towards the end of his life.

So maybe all we need to do to save art is rebel against conceptual art as the Stuckist have. Or create the new art medium as a friend has suggested. Citing that Video Games and computer software may hold the key to the next great art movement. Although my reply was that in 1,000 years from now the cinema will be considered the great art of our times. And Damian Hirst will be seen as the clown that destroyed the fine arts.

Although I really feel that the stuckist seem to be well,  stuck in time. Was all that stuff my art history professor told me about one movement in art influencing the next, the advent of the camera, and cultural / political influences on art not really important. Does art have some where better to go beyond the grave?

More next month.

the end of art.

Duchamp - Urinal

Nice article in Newsweek magazine this month entitled "Why is Art so Dammed effing Expensive".

A couple of my favorite quotes:
“If I can’t sell something, I just double the price.” That’s what Ernst Beyeler, the great Swiss dealer who helped found Art Basel, reportedly said."


and shortly after that:
 “Obviously, it’s wonderful to see the price rise,” she said, since that’s confirmation of the object’s cultural worth.:" - New York collector Agnes Gund


Here is the comment I left: 

Art is Dead. This is the symptom. The history of art as a progressive movement towards self realization in the Hegalian sense has reached it's fruition. And it is indeed artists who have killed it. By claiming with conceptual art that any idea can be art they have also determined that anyone can be an artist. This makes art virtually worthless and as Hegal states "As Spirit reaches its full self-realization, the need for images and symbols withers away, and with it goes the need for any art that uses physical means to express itself."  

Art today has been reduced to marketing tactics like branding and artificially perceived value. While other artists are expected to just give their work away because they do not have a "name". 

Please feel free to comment. - alex

In the Future......

In the future art will only be created by retired people.
In the future art will be used only for decoration.
In the future art will only be practical.
In the future animals will be art celebrities.
In the future art will only be created by monkeys.



In the future art will only be created for therapeutic purposes.
In the future art will be free of charge.
In the future art will only be projected on walls.
In the future art will be the only printed materials.
In the future all art museums will be owned by corporations.
In the future art will only be created by employees.
In the future art will only be created by the mentally insane.
In the future art will never have a physical form.
In he future art will be trash.
In he future trash will be art.
In the future art will not be necessary.

Is Art Dead ?

"Art is Dead" www.alexchavez.com

Is Art Dead ? The Art is Dead Manifesto says YES. Find out why the end of art history has already past. And all there is left to do is keep re-spinning old art. Da Da, Found Art, Pop Art and Conceptual Art, all claimed that anything can be art therefore anyone can be an artist. No skills or talent necessary.
This blog is going to be an attempt to write down my theory and influences for the kind of artwork I produce. Yes I am an artist living and working, but not making a living off my artwork. Up until now these thoughts have been restricted to random conversations with my best friend over many lunches. My wife when she is an unwilling captive on long driving trips. And my children so they don't think  that daddy is weird for creating the images that he makes (probably unsuccessfully).