Artist vs critic
October 31, 2023 3:24 AM Subscribe
Devon Rodriguez is one of the world's most famous artists. Never heard of him? Maybe "that guy that posts to TikTok about drawing people on the underground" rings a bell. Art critic Ben Davis visited his exhibition "Underground" at UTA Artist Space and wrote a review.
What happened next was that neither the artist or his millions of followers took kindly to the criticism, and Ben Davis later wrote about that experience. (Via Kottke.org)
What happened next was that neither the artist or his millions of followers took kindly to the criticism, and Ben Davis later wrote about that experience. (Via Kottke.org)
So i read the review before clicking through to the "more inside" and was struck by how thoughtful and informative it is. Not quite a takedown, it avoids the too-common sneering tone many critics would approach this subject with, but does include a lot of smart, sharp points about the art and the cultural moment surrounding it. He tries to be gentle when introducing the "slightly less uplifting side note" paragraph about that shitty-sounding real estate developer who's a big patron:
I was supposed to interview Rodriguez, but the condition of the interview was that I not ask any questions about Rubenstein.
That's very clear and fair. And his definition of "influencer artist" as "a kind of organically hybrid creative phenomenon, someone who, because they mainly showed their art via social media, evolved toward producing something that was a mix of conventional art object, performance art, and self-promotion" also seems very clear and non-judgmental. I like it.
Then I clicked "more inside." Of course that's the next step in this story, which I'm guessing helps explain the caution he took with the review. Now off to see how bad things got after that...
posted by mediareport at 5:05 AM on October 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
I was supposed to interview Rodriguez, but the condition of the interview was that I not ask any questions about Rubenstein.
That's very clear and fair. And his definition of "influencer artist" as "a kind of organically hybrid creative phenomenon, someone who, because they mainly showed their art via social media, evolved toward producing something that was a mix of conventional art object, performance art, and self-promotion" also seems very clear and non-judgmental. I like it.
Then I clicked "more inside." Of course that's the next step in this story, which I'm guessing helps explain the caution he took with the review. Now off to see how bad things got after that...
posted by mediareport at 5:05 AM on October 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
While I have read some very vicious "reviews" of artwork, I thought Davis wrote a fairly mild piece with a mix of praise and reasonably constructive criticism, along with some interesting thoughts about the changing art situation. The response seemed way over the top, and some of the claims (that Davis was a "gatekeeper") are false and nonsensical, but that's an internet mob for you.
However, Rodriguez has multiple publicists and PR people. Did none of them tell him that egging on an internet attack mob might affect his image as a pleasant and positive person? On the other hand, the art world is often pretty lenient with toxic men as long as they bring in money.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:08 AM on October 31, 2023 [15 favorites]
However, Rodriguez has multiple publicists and PR people. Did none of them tell him that egging on an internet attack mob might affect his image as a pleasant and positive person? On the other hand, the art world is often pretty lenient with toxic men as long as they bring in money.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:08 AM on October 31, 2023 [15 favorites]
Generally, the point of presenting an art show in public is to see if it can hold the attention of people who don’t directly know you.
Ok, I think I have a new favorite art critic. Great response to the brigading - savvy, funny, educational for any TikTok kids (using the term loosely) willing to listen, and not backing down. Well done both times. Thanks for the post, Harald74.
posted by mediareport at 5:25 AM on October 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
Ok, I think I have a new favorite art critic. Great response to the brigading - savvy, funny, educational for any TikTok kids (using the term loosely) willing to listen, and not backing down. Well done both times. Thanks for the post, Harald74.
posted by mediareport at 5:25 AM on October 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
I mean, I know I'm not the coolest person but even the descriptor of "that guy on TikTok who draws people on the underground" would have me going, "He does? Okay, great."
Yeah, that review is pretty mild. I was expecting over the top levels of sass to warrant the outsized response from the artist. God, parasocial relationships are fucked up and weird.
posted by Kitteh at 5:33 AM on October 31, 2023 [8 favorites]
Yeah, that review is pretty mild. I was expecting over the top levels of sass to warrant the outsized response from the artist. God, parasocial relationships are fucked up and weird.
posted by Kitteh at 5:33 AM on October 31, 2023 [8 favorites]
He's having his 15 minutes...
posted by Czjewel at 6:37 AM on October 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Czjewel at 6:37 AM on October 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
He has that Trump mindset: get famous as a persona and dunk on anyone with a criticism as losers and haters. This makes your audience feel even more closely bonded to you because they get to defend you. If you're not blatantly right wing, you have to do some kindness schtick where you pretend that your critic is a gatekeeper.
The problem is that unless your losers and haters are the biggest losers and haters of all (the US government), you're eventually going to come across as sour yourself and lose your audience.
posted by kingdead at 7:01 AM on October 31, 2023
The problem is that unless your losers and haters are the biggest losers and haters of all (the US government), you're eventually going to come across as sour yourself and lose your audience.
posted by kingdead at 7:01 AM on October 31, 2023
@benstoppable humble yourself my guy, please humble yourself. You're a man with an opinion, nothing more. You're not more important than anyone else and I hope today you realize that.
Christ, what an asshole.
posted by swift at 7:31 AM on October 31, 2023 [14 favorites]
Christ, what an asshole.
posted by swift at 7:31 AM on October 31, 2023 [14 favorites]
Yeah I hate this guy. A moderate talent for technically competent portraiture and fairly blatant process deception in the name of narrative preciousness, combined with an apocalyptically overweening ego and a vast herd of plebs hollering "WITNESS ME" as they rise to his undeserved defence. The worst of us bubbled up by the least of us. Baaarrfff.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:06 AM on October 31, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:06 AM on October 31, 2023 [14 favorites]
Dang. The reviewer says that the guy is not necessarily the greatest painter but he should be respected because he's mastered/created a new art genre... and the painter's response is to get pissy? He was giving him a compliment.
Because he really is not a great painter! With photorealist painting you always have to answer the question "why is this a painting and not a photo?*" The paintings on their own don't answer that question, but the reviewer is arguing that within the context of the way they are presented on social media, they do. Because we react to the performance of the artist painting someone on the subway and the subject reacting to discovering they have been painted: that's why it's not a photograph. This is a good argument, and one that it takes a good art reviewer to make. That's literally the art reviewer's expertise and job.
*I remember my painting teacher long ago teaching me this lesson when I was getting upset about not being able to perfectly render something exactly right in a painting. They pointed out that if I wanted it to look 100% lifelike, I should just take a photo. Why was I not taking a photo? Because I wanted to say something that was more than "this is what X looks like" and that is why art is different from just recording something.
It is similar in other art forms. Why are you saying this in a play rather than a novel? What difference does it make to see a person acting out a story it in front of you, rather than to hear the character's inner voices in your own head? How is a statement about gender made through a song or through fashion different than writing an essay? Back to painting, someone like Picasso could have painted a perfectly lifelike representation of a person (even a hand!) if he wanted to, so by making an abstraction he was saying something else. Once photography exists, abstraction in painting can exist, because painting can now do something else.
This guys paintings don't work as paintings on their own because they look like too much like average photos taken on an iphone - they look like he is just trying to be as lifelike as possible; and they are not outstanding technically, so there isn't that argument to fall back on. But when you put them together with the tiktok videos, they become something really interesting that is about more than the paint.
posted by EllaEm at 8:12 AM on October 31, 2023 [17 favorites]
Because he really is not a great painter! With photorealist painting you always have to answer the question "why is this a painting and not a photo?*" The paintings on their own don't answer that question, but the reviewer is arguing that within the context of the way they are presented on social media, they do. Because we react to the performance of the artist painting someone on the subway and the subject reacting to discovering they have been painted: that's why it's not a photograph. This is a good argument, and one that it takes a good art reviewer to make. That's literally the art reviewer's expertise and job.
*I remember my painting teacher long ago teaching me this lesson when I was getting upset about not being able to perfectly render something exactly right in a painting. They pointed out that if I wanted it to look 100% lifelike, I should just take a photo. Why was I not taking a photo? Because I wanted to say something that was more than "this is what X looks like" and that is why art is different from just recording something.
It is similar in other art forms. Why are you saying this in a play rather than a novel? What difference does it make to see a person acting out a story it in front of you, rather than to hear the character's inner voices in your own head? How is a statement about gender made through a song or through fashion different than writing an essay? Back to painting, someone like Picasso could have painted a perfectly lifelike representation of a person (even a hand!) if he wanted to, so by making an abstraction he was saying something else. Once photography exists, abstraction in painting can exist, because painting can now do something else.
This guys paintings don't work as paintings on their own because they look like too much like average photos taken on an iphone - they look like he is just trying to be as lifelike as possible; and they are not outstanding technically, so there isn't that argument to fall back on. But when you put them together with the tiktok videos, they become something really interesting that is about more than the paint.
posted by EllaEm at 8:12 AM on October 31, 2023 [17 favorites]
I think it's indicative of a broader cultural context that's linked with parasocial relationships to a degree where people internalize what content they consume as part of their personality and in turn treat criticism of that content as attacking them directly. Obviously this is worse because the artist is a thin skinned baby weaponizing his followers but the general theme of "critique is bad unless it's entirely positive" is larger than this instance.
posted by Ferreous at 8:14 AM on October 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Ferreous at 8:14 AM on October 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't understand how Warhol doesn't come up in every discussion of Rodriguez as influencer-artist. Or Banksy. Rodriguez isn't the first artist to move the boundaries of the work itself to include the process (Warhol) or his presence (or lack thereof--Banksy).
And behind Rodriguez as an influencer-artist is a legion of artists whose social media presence simply allowed them to sell their work enough to support themselves.
Davis's review is very good, picking apart how Rodriguez's art is a hybrid of object and artist unique to the moment in social media, and he very clearly credits Rodriguez as doing this consciously. This line at the end really nails the angle:
As an aside, I've come to despise the 20th century notion that works of art can or should be standalone objects, without authorship. I'm not sure if I should be punching Walter Benjamin and his 'procession of simulacra' or Clement Greenberg, but I'm baffled at how we ever fell prey to the idea that works of visual art, film, or literature meant anything devoid of context.
posted by fatbird at 9:11 AM on October 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
And behind Rodriguez as an influencer-artist is a legion of artists whose social media presence simply allowed them to sell their work enough to support themselves.
Davis's review is very good, picking apart how Rodriguez's art is a hybrid of object and artist unique to the moment in social media, and he very clearly credits Rodriguez as doing this consciously. This line at the end really nails the angle:
In 2023, Rodriguez is essentially in a race to develop an audience with a more-than-superficial interest in his actual painting faster than his social-media presence is drained of goodwill through over-exploitation.That alone makes Rodriguez noteworthy artistically.
As an aside, I've come to despise the 20th century notion that works of art can or should be standalone objects, without authorship. I'm not sure if I should be punching Walter Benjamin and his 'procession of simulacra' or Clement Greenberg, but I'm baffled at how we ever fell prey to the idea that works of visual art, film, or literature meant anything devoid of context.
posted by fatbird at 9:11 AM on October 31, 2023 [6 favorites]
BTW, Davis: my hands look like rotisserie chickens, you insensitive clod.
posted by fatbird at 9:23 AM on October 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by fatbird at 9:23 AM on October 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
So after he takes the first video, does he use an opaque projector/ camera lucida for the paintings? David Hockey explored this technique.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:01 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 10:01 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Now you guys see what I mean when I say in my interviews, I never had an art show before because I always felt the gate keeping. After everything I've done, they're still trying to gate keep me. Now imagine how it felt when I had nothing and no one noticing me. So I'll continue to preach, if you have someone like @benstoppable in your life, don't ever let them diminish your shine. I still deal with it in my life today after everything, I fight for me and for you. Keep going, we got the answers! Love yalllllll [cry-laughing emoji, heart emoji, praying hands emoji, blown kiss emoji, heart-hands emoji]God I hate this entire paragraph, from the "gate keeping" done by "them" accusation (who? did you type this wearing a tinfoil hat?) to the promises to continue to preach (please no) and that somehow Davis fighting for both himself AND me (leave me out of it tyvm) and the tonally jarring faux-positive "we got the answers, love y'all" sentiment in the midst of an internet brigading. Maybe it's just that I'm Midwestern but anyone who expresses this kind of "love conquers all" sentiment I immediately take to be an addle-brained twit.
Kudos to this critic for being the adult in the situation, willing to calmly explain why this reaction is bad, both for the artist himself ("Devon Rodriguez’s art agents and PR handlers might gently tell him that, if one of the things you are selling is likability and good vibes, cheering on this kind of vicious reaction every time you get a review you don’t like is probably not a sustainable career path") and for all the rest of us. If you find yourself posting "what if he was your son?" to an art critic it's time to put the Tiktok down.
posted by axiom at 10:16 AM on October 31, 2023 [7 favorites]
This is exactly why I'm glad I stopped reviewing records.
I think it's indicative of a broader cultural context that's linked with parasocial relationships to a degree where people internalize what content they consume as part of their personality and in turn treat criticism of that content as attacking them directly.
There is a weird other side too, wherein it seem like people now get angry ACTUALLY ANGRY if you recommend something to them and they don't like it. I don't, in general, tell people what I don't like anymore, but I talk about what I do, if asked, and boy howdy, the number of "How dare you even recommend this to me? I will hold this against you until the day I die" responses I've gotten from people who have actually solicited my advice on seemingly anodyne topics like "literary fiction" or "new indie rock" or "that new restaurant up the block" is almost comically over-the-top.
posted by thivaia at 10:20 AM on October 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
I think it's indicative of a broader cultural context that's linked with parasocial relationships to a degree where people internalize what content they consume as part of their personality and in turn treat criticism of that content as attacking them directly.
There is a weird other side too, wherein it seem like people now get angry ACTUALLY ANGRY if you recommend something to them and they don't like it. I don't, in general, tell people what I don't like anymore, but I talk about what I do, if asked, and boy howdy, the number of "How dare you even recommend this to me? I will hold this against you until the day I die" responses I've gotten from people who have actually solicited my advice on seemingly anodyne topics like "literary fiction" or "new indie rock" or "that new restaurant up the block" is almost comically over-the-top.
posted by thivaia at 10:20 AM on October 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Dali was an asshole, too.
Anyhow, while looking at some of the artwork, I was struck by the genre, which to me is populated by the likes of Norman Rockwell, who created story pictures of a relatively narrow slice of America. It would be fair to compare the styles, but that's another line of discussion.
Many creative people are thin-skinned. I liked the stories Rodriques' paintings told. Davis' critique was only another trip along a parallel continuum and, for me, had little to do with my visit with Rodriques' work. I would enjoy his work better if I saw it in person.
The squabble doesn't interest me, although I enjoyed reading Davis' critique.
posted by mule98J at 11:29 AM on October 31, 2023
Anyhow, while looking at some of the artwork, I was struck by the genre, which to me is populated by the likes of Norman Rockwell, who created story pictures of a relatively narrow slice of America. It would be fair to compare the styles, but that's another line of discussion.
Many creative people are thin-skinned. I liked the stories Rodriques' paintings told. Davis' critique was only another trip along a parallel continuum and, for me, had little to do with my visit with Rodriques' work. I would enjoy his work better if I saw it in person.
The squabble doesn't interest me, although I enjoyed reading Davis' critique.
posted by mule98J at 11:29 AM on October 31, 2023
One thing that really landed for me in Davis' follow-up piece was this point:
But man when you're that successful as a social media figure, when you have in fact undeniably made it in a way very few people making either art or social media content ever do, you should have some instincts about what gets to pass from your personal upset to you public responses, and it's weird that Rodriguez also doesn't seem to have developed that so far. Which, the support coming back in from the parasocial mob stuff makes it possible—believe the people who say they love you, disregard anything but that ample unalloyed love as just haters and gatekeepers—but it should be such a perceivable pitfall and trap that you'd think someone dealing with that kind of social media following for more than a minute would have put up some guardrails for themselves.
posted by cortex at 7:18 AM on November 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
In fact, the only way I can understand Rodriguez’s incredibly thin-skinned reaction to my article is that he has managed to rise to this status of apex visibility without any kind of critical writing about him at all. It’s all just been feel-good profiles, so that the first critical word feels like a huge crisis.Because that does really feel like it has to be part of it: if Rodriguez has come into (significant! really really significant!) success and fame without ever having been faced with direct, normal amounts of criticism proportionate with that level of exposure, he may just have zero calluses at all for critical feedback. And I'm sympathetic of how much that might make a non-glowing review of his show sting! It'd probably be pretty personal upsetting to process that, I can see Rodriquez feeling it a lot stronger than otherwise feels proportionate to the review.
But man when you're that successful as a social media figure, when you have in fact undeniably made it in a way very few people making either art or social media content ever do, you should have some instincts about what gets to pass from your personal upset to you public responses, and it's weird that Rodriguez also doesn't seem to have developed that so far. Which, the support coming back in from the parasocial mob stuff makes it possible—believe the people who say they love you, disregard anything but that ample unalloyed love as just haters and gatekeepers—but it should be such a perceivable pitfall and trap that you'd think someone dealing with that kind of social media following for more than a minute would have put up some guardrails for themselves.
posted by cortex at 7:18 AM on November 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
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