Great story. I hope to get to see an original Banksy some day! So cool that he sells some of his work affordably to people who just appreciate the "art" of it.
so glad for this piece! i went on the first day (as a guest of a friend, so did not pay) and felt more and more "taken"(not in the good way) as i walked around and made apprehension-expressed eye contact with the other fellow viewers.........................left feeling a) angry at the fact that a group of people can blatantly profit off of an artist's work wo the artist's consent, b) how poorly it was done...some of the "prints of photos(?!!)" were too big to fit properly into their frames, blown up quotes took up @ 40% of the "exhibit" and c) just overall how "scammy" it felt, and i felt after leaving, clearly most all of the works were not actually made by Banksy's hands. yuck. i suppose when your work is largely only available through public spaces, therefore considered in the public domain, it is bound to be ripped off/co-opted/outright profited from, but, its still anger-triggering to see it done, and done so poorly. if you are going to profit from someone else's work, at least put in the effort: you are exhibiting in a cement warehouse space, why not project the images onto the walls full scale to give people a realistic feeling of stumbling on them in their natural setting? why not, why not, why not...there are too many Why Not's and Could Haves...clearly, i was effected by this exhibit, but probs not in the way the "curator" intended. gahh! <deep yoga breathe> anyhoo, Really appreciate your deep dive into the exceptionally vague intentions and actual gray-area reality of the "curator's" motivations and actions. grateful for you!
The poorly framed photos were the breaking point for me. Like, you can't even bother not to have wrinkly prints? The whole thing felt like such an affront to art and artists' work. I want to believe that the organizer(s)/curator(s) had good intentions, but good intentions aren't enough to mount an international touring show with philanthropic aspirations.
I find this whole project appalling on so many levels. You have articulated the reasons much better than I could put into words. On top of it all, it feels like a con job, in an era where the con is just the way things are done. Honestly, I feel sick.
Yeah, the whole thing really bummed me out. Not just for the lack of reverence paid to the artist and to the public.
I also feel so disappointed that none of the other journalists who wrote about this show looked beyond what a beautiful white woman was telling them. No one dug into what was actually happening. It all feels like a dereliction of duty. Added to that, the fact that this exhibition is making thousands of dollars a day while the hard working artists of Portland are struggling to pay rent and to keep their studio spaces.
your curiosity, willingness to do the hard thing (this time, ask all the needed questions), and then ability to communicate about it all so beautifully/painfully is a gift. perhaps most shocking to me (while the whole piece kept me reading fast…trying to take in the full story) is the comment you make about other folks writing about the show as though everything the organizer said was simply true. ugh! thank you, once again, for opening my eyes and inspiring me to look deeper…always!
It's so important that we as arts writers, journalists, and members of the public look critically at the ways that different art experiences affect artists and the arts economy. Who is benefitting? Who is being disadvantaged? Thank you for being willing to look at these larger issues.
You pack so much into the work you do, cutting right to the heart of all of this in a thorough but even-handed way. And that last paragraph is perfection, summing up such a vast array of problems that we have to face and continue working on. There is so much at play here. Culture, systems, and runaway capitalist structures. Whiteness oozing out of every square inch of it. Not the least of which is the lie of "good intentions." It's not only that we compulsively value intentions over impact but also that we value our own conception of our intentions without looking at what's driving them and whether or not they are, in fact, good. Thank you for the relentless effort you pour into urging us forward.
The lie of good intentions that permeates white culture! Our behaviors matter far more than whatever idea we have of ourselves when we're lying in bed at night. Thank you for such a close reading of this piece.
Great story. I hope to get to see an original Banksy some day! So cool that he sells some of his work affordably to people who just appreciate the "art" of it.
so glad for this piece! i went on the first day (as a guest of a friend, so did not pay) and felt more and more "taken"(not in the good way) as i walked around and made apprehension-expressed eye contact with the other fellow viewers.........................left feeling a) angry at the fact that a group of people can blatantly profit off of an artist's work wo the artist's consent, b) how poorly it was done...some of the "prints of photos(?!!)" were too big to fit properly into their frames, blown up quotes took up @ 40% of the "exhibit" and c) just overall how "scammy" it felt, and i felt after leaving, clearly most all of the works were not actually made by Banksy's hands. yuck. i suppose when your work is largely only available through public spaces, therefore considered in the public domain, it is bound to be ripped off/co-opted/outright profited from, but, its still anger-triggering to see it done, and done so poorly. if you are going to profit from someone else's work, at least put in the effort: you are exhibiting in a cement warehouse space, why not project the images onto the walls full scale to give people a realistic feeling of stumbling on them in their natural setting? why not, why not, why not...there are too many Why Not's and Could Haves...clearly, i was effected by this exhibit, but probs not in the way the "curator" intended. gahh! <deep yoga breathe> anyhoo, Really appreciate your deep dive into the exceptionally vague intentions and actual gray-area reality of the "curator's" motivations and actions. grateful for you!
ruthE
The poorly framed photos were the breaking point for me. Like, you can't even bother not to have wrinkly prints? The whole thing felt like such an affront to art and artists' work. I want to believe that the organizer(s)/curator(s) had good intentions, but good intentions aren't enough to mount an international touring show with philanthropic aspirations.
I find this whole project appalling on so many levels. You have articulated the reasons much better than I could put into words. On top of it all, it feels like a con job, in an era where the con is just the way things are done. Honestly, I feel sick.
Yeah, the whole thing really bummed me out. Not just for the lack of reverence paid to the artist and to the public.
I also feel so disappointed that none of the other journalists who wrote about this show looked beyond what a beautiful white woman was telling them. No one dug into what was actually happening. It all feels like a dereliction of duty. Added to that, the fact that this exhibition is making thousands of dollars a day while the hard working artists of Portland are struggling to pay rent and to keep their studio spaces.
your curiosity, willingness to do the hard thing (this time, ask all the needed questions), and then ability to communicate about it all so beautifully/painfully is a gift. perhaps most shocking to me (while the whole piece kept me reading fast…trying to take in the full story) is the comment you make about other folks writing about the show as though everything the organizer said was simply true. ugh! thank you, once again, for opening my eyes and inspiring me to look deeper…always!
It's so important that we as arts writers, journalists, and members of the public look critically at the ways that different art experiences affect artists and the arts economy. Who is benefitting? Who is being disadvantaged? Thank you for being willing to look at these larger issues.
You pack so much into the work you do, cutting right to the heart of all of this in a thorough but even-handed way. And that last paragraph is perfection, summing up such a vast array of problems that we have to face and continue working on. There is so much at play here. Culture, systems, and runaway capitalist structures. Whiteness oozing out of every square inch of it. Not the least of which is the lie of "good intentions." It's not only that we compulsively value intentions over impact but also that we value our own conception of our intentions without looking at what's driving them and whether or not they are, in fact, good. Thank you for the relentless effort you pour into urging us forward.
The lie of good intentions that permeates white culture! Our behaviors matter far more than whatever idea we have of ourselves when we're lying in bed at night. Thank you for such a close reading of this piece.