Monday 24 April 2017

So what? join the club

Some 20thC  art went up its own bum when, in its genuine search for the authentic, it lost sight of its audience, observer, hearer and became increasingly addressed to people who were knowledgeable, had the money time and patience to go with the artist wherever he/she chose to go. 
The work became often more rarefied and required more and more effort to reach and (for whatever reason, good or bad) it seems that audiences now don't have the time or the interest to indulge artists who dont try to meet them.
Artists (whether performers writers, musicians) would often get obsessed with some aspect of their craft and that became their work and they assumed that everyone was interested, but just as you don't have to know how every bit of a car functions to enjoy a car ride, so maybe nuts and bolts of an artist's craft is less interesting than what they make.
And ultimately it what you make that enables you to thrive.
But often now it a question of how survive as a performer, writer, musician, whatever. You have to attract attention, and the easiest way to do that is to parade technique or spend lots on self promotion. Commercial success is often a case of pandering schmoozing and marketing, and everyone else says 'So what? join the club'

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