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Concept art is pretentious tat, says ICA chief
Fiachra Gibbons, arts correspondent Thursday January 17, 2002 The Guardian
Ivan Massow, millionaire chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, last night confirmed the prejudice of the philistine masses by claiming that most conceptual art is "pretentious, self-indulgent, craftless tat".
Mr Massow said the British art world is in "danger of disappearing up its own arse ... led by cultural tsars such as the Tate's Sir Nicholas Serota, who dominate the scene from their crystal Kremlins.
"Most concept art I see now is pretentious, self-indulgent, craftless tat that I wouldn't accept even as a gift."
He claimed that despite the "terrifying power" of the art establishment - "what a weirdly oxymoronic phrase that is" - he had to speak out.
"I must confess that, for a number of years, I've had a nagging voice in my head telling me it's all hype and frequently no substance. By outing this opinion in public, I realise there will be plenty of people waiting, like Madame Lafarge with her knitting needles next to the guillotine, for my head to roll into their laps."
In tomorrow's New Statesman, he even takes a pop at the queen of the scene, Tracey Emin, claiming "anyone who has met Emin knows she couldn't think her way out of a paper bag".
If it is any comfort for Emin, who could not be contacted last night, he liked her unmade bed, which most critics believe should have won the Turner Prize two years ago. He does,
however, suspect it was masterminded by her patron, Charles Saatchi.
A man of contradictions as a gay, pro-hunting, former Tory, Mr Massow, 34, defected to Labour over the Conservatives' decision to fight the abolition of Clause 28, which outlawed the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.
He says that by uttering the "unthinkable" about contemporary art he hoped to free young artists from the yoke of "totalitarian official art" imposed by the likes of Sir Nicholas's Tate.
"It is the product of an over-indulged middle class (barely concealed behind mockney accents), bloated egos who patronise real people with fake understanding," he writes.
"Thousands of young artists wait in the wings to see whether the taste arbiters will relinquish their exclusive fascination with
concept art.
"It's a crime. We need art lovers to tell artists that they're not obliged to reinvent themselves into creators of piles of crap.
"We've now reached a situation where a new generation of art students go to college with the idea of becoming rich and famous like their idols Emin and Damien Hirst, to act like rock stars instead of aspiring to artistic excellence through a tangible medium.
"It seems sad that so many talented young artists, clawing to be noticed for their craft, are forced to ditch their talent and reinvent themselves as creators of video installations, or a machine that produces foam in the middle of a room."
Mr Massow berates the critics, saying they have bought into the establishment, for not showing their teeth. "Boundaries have been pushed further and further but, I wonder, isn't it all now rather piss-poor compared to the brilliant and explosive interventions of our modernist forebears?"
Sir Nicholas declined to comment last night, and the ICA -which is showing video installations of the type Mr Massow railed against - maintained a diplomatic silence on its chairman's writings. |
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