Is dylan gagosian-worthy?
left/concept: designapplause | original art: designapplause | execution: designapplause
If you haven’t heard, Bob Dylan’s exhibit of his paintings titled “The Asian Series” which can be seen at New York’s Gagosian Gallery is in the news. His fan club blog, Expecting Rain, appears to have discovered and announced that the paintings are very near look-a-likes to photos found online. Anything wrong with that?
left/boys playing chess in front of the trocadero hotel | dmitri kessel || bob dylan installation view | click to enlarge
The following figures are for dramatic affect, you know, creative license: media is feeding (1%); savants are chuckling (5%); lawyers are chuckling (5%); fans defending (10%); critics are opining (15%); the rest, wtf—guessing (64%). DesignApplause feels its mission is to raise awareness by asking the tough questions and providing links to resources to ease the mind.
[DA] What were Dylan and Gagosian thinkin?
a> Gagosian thinks they can slip one past the public
b> Dylan thinks he can slip one past both Gagosian and the public
c> Gagosian and Dylan weren’t thinkin
d> Gagosian and Dylan and fan club actually plan this for a bigger media blast
e> All of the above
[DA] What best describes Dylan’s creative process on The Asian Series?
a> entire project done in complete isolation so no one said Bob are you sure you want to do this?
b> bounced ideas off John Birch Society
c> bounced ideas off Richard Prince
d> bounced ideas off Gagosian
e> followed business as usual borrowing from this and that
[DA] Each of BD’s paintings is $350,000 with only four left to purchase. There was a private showing. Which painting below is worth more?
left/very strong resemblance to campbell soup can | right/very strong resemblance to an okinawa soba photo | click to enlarge
a> painting on left, the artist is dead
b> painting on left, the painting is older
c> painting on left, not done by a folk singer
d> painting on left, is more well known
e> all of the above
[DA] How many buyers will be returning their purchases when they find out that their BD paintings were non-original images? btw—small torn campbell soup pepper pot can painting (62) sold for $11.8M in 2006
a> all of them
b> 33%
c> 66%
d> none of them
e> flipping them for $500k
You know what’s a bit over the top? Richard Prince wrote the text for “The Asia Series” catalog. Prince and Gagosian lost a suit with French photographer Patrick Cariou. Coriou accused Prince of copying 41 of his photographs. We’re told the catalog has since been shelved. Is this serendipity? [Ed: Gagosian confirms catalog is on sale at gallery 5 Oct]
Let’s close with a quote from Solomon, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
left/what to you think? gagosian-worthy? we love you bob
[ gagosian gallery ] [ the new yorker ] [ artinfo ] [ scott warmuth ] [ expecting rain ]
dates: 20 september | 22 october
venue: gagosian gallery | 980 madison avenue new york city
8 comments ↓
There are other artists who paint from pictures. So why not Dylan? The question is whether they are any good. These are my answers to your multiple choice.
b. Dylan always thinks he can slip one past the public. It’s part of his charm. Gagosian’s in it for money…
c. and d. Dylan does borrow and he’s a master at making what he borrows totally his own. I read a 17th century English poem and was stunned that the style and refrain were identical to ‘Where have you gone my blue-eyed son.’ Read Chronicles.
e. I don’t remember Warhol doing a painting like the one on the left. If Dylan had done it, that would have been interesting.
e. Who cares?
Dylan uses many sources for his work..songwriting/writing/art…many creative people do. ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’. Dylan’s art-work is mediocre. If the public didn’t associate the “work” with the awareness that it was done by Dylan, most likely they wouldn’t give it a second look! It’s not good art..it’s about the public wanting a “piece’ of Dylan. If he spat on a wall…….it would be sold for high $ The public just wants a piece of him. It’s all about $
“Do you think there will ever be a time when you’ll be hung as a thief?”
There are worldwide less than 10 million people with a net worth of investment of more than 1 million USD. Assuming an even distribution of Mr D’s fanbase there will be 50,000 people who are interested in and capable of buying his wallpapers. 500 of these are considering buying art as an investment to diversify their portfolio.
14 actually did so; 486 (97 %) are convinced that there are better ways to part from their money. For the rank and file of Mr D’s aging fanbase (networth less than half the price of one photo-copy) this is a real eye-opener; Mr D’s doesn’t even bother to write new songs himself, and he issues only one song albums. High water everywhere…don’t blame the bootleggers and downloaders when he looks beyond the horizon.
Could you expand on/confirm the suggestion that the catalog has been shelved? This certainly lends credence to the sense that something fishy is going on here…
The Gagosian Gallery confirmed over the telephone that Asian Series catalog with text by Richard Prince is available for sale at the gallery.
The article above refers to the Richard Prince catalog from his 2008 exhibit. At least, that is my understanding.
The Gagosian Gallery forwarded this statement. “In the Bob Dylan Asia Series catalogue there are contributions by John Elderfield and Richard Prince.” AndoDoug and Jezebel, ty for driving the catalog thread.
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