JayLeClay on Nostr: Art critics… pfft. Is there a job that adds less to society? I don’t think so. ...

Art critics… pfft.
Is there a job that adds less to society? I don’t think so.
Consider that, unlike *artists*, who earn notoriety (and money) for producing creative work that expresses something universal, or something personal, in a novel way, art *critics* literally only get famous for writing something nasty. No one pays attention to an art critic who writes POSITIVE things about a famous artist. Art critics are there parasitic high school mean girls of the art world. Starved for attention. Fed by jealous feelings for the success of others and sustaining their careers solely by attempting to “take them down a peg.” It’s a pathetic career choice for a failed artist.

Now, with that out of the way. That critic’s quote you pasted above has *some* merit against Banksy, as does yours. To your point, he seems to be generating the same message rather than pushing the envelope. Yet, why was it (y)our expectation that he “grow” as an artist? Perhaps he found his niche and feels the most important thing he can say, repeatedly, as you said is “Governments are bad. War is bad. Following other people blindly is bad.” You wish he took more risks as an artist the way he used to when you were 14 but, my point is, perhaps he is. Perhaps it’s not laziness that keeps him repeating himself. Perhaps it’s society’s persistent ignorance and the risk *he’s* taking is the same.

As for criticizing his commercial success, I dunno. That’s a bit like being unhappy that other people like your favorite local band. You liked them years ago, and then they got big, and now their 3rd album “sucks” because it sounds like the first, and you wish they’d branch out and take more risks, and are unhappy that floor seats at their sold out stadium show cost 5x a fancy dinner in the city. Right?

Personally, I think Banksy is laughing at Sotheby’s and its ilk. Laughing all the way to the bank. Let him continue to poke his finger in the eyes of the establishment. If that’s an easy message to understand, all the better. When it becomes a BORING message for people to understand, he will become less commercially successful.
But, you know, I think that once “war is bad” or “following other people blindly is bad” becomes boring a message, that would be the most positive outcome for both him and the world, actually.