Thursday, January 13, 2011

Hearing More From Me

Last post I said I would talk about what Lady Gaga and the Jersey Shore cast have to do with art, since this is an art blog after all. Here we shall attempt to answer the question. In the case of the "Jersey Shore" cast (I use the word advisedly), what you're dealing with here is, in the most charitable terms, a watered down kind of direct film making. Don't let's call it cinema verite' as that would require real actors who are essentially making it up as they go. It's called improvisation. In this case, it's more of a documentary style set-up where real people (yes, these are real people) are just being themselves. We may find this objectionable, but what we're objecting to, may I suggest, is the people themselves, not necessarily the technique. Although one could object to that as well, since there's no real sophistication of technique here. One could also argue that there's no sophistication of technique at C-SPAN either, but C-SPAN doesn't typically make you want to scream "My eyes! My eyes!" as you run from the room. And there is an important difference here: C-SPAN is journalism perhaps at its purest. "Jersey Shore" is not, nor does it attempt to be. It's art of a low brow sort, and I'm perhaps being generous here and perhaps it's that because of its so-called "cast".
I could say I don't get the appeal, but then I don't get the appeal of what is called "reality TV".

Having said that, I don't really get Lady Gaga. But she is clearly seeking to be the art, not just the artist. She is memorable as much for her outsized fashion sense and her persona as she is for her music. In fact, the music is to me somewhat forgettable. Throwaway pop. What sticks is...well, her. You won't forget the meat dress. You won't forget the shoes that looked like they'd only fit a giant praying mantis. You won't forget the stands she takes. She's worth watching because as an artist, she's bound to evolve, and whether you like it or not, her transformations will be fascinating, won't they? Now I won't be watching her like her fans will (her Little Monsters), but she'll be pretty hard to miss. We will keep hearing from her for a while I suspect.

Now...since this is my art blog, you must be wondering, where's MY art, right? Well, fear not. At last I have something worth sharing and you'll see it next post.


More Later
KCD