Our recent author-on-author, filmmaker-on-filmmaker and musician-on-musician insults have proved that creative folk are only human, and occasionally enjoy a good rip on their industry compatriots. Artists are no different, albeit they do it a bit differently. What they lack in media exposure, they make up in specifics, attacking “sickly” lines and “filthy” shades or, like Salvador Dalí, outright making up verbs like “outuglying” to drive their insults. Naturally, a good portion of these revolve around artists cutting down each others’ relevancy — yesterday’s Renaissance “daubers” are today’s graffiti “toys.” Looks like the battle of egos will never go away. (Oh, good!) Here are 30 harshest historical and contemporary artist-on-artists insults. We’d love to hear yours in the comments.
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William Powhida doesn’t mince words — especially when it comes to the art world. The Bushwick-based artist has built a career on creating work that lambastes misbehaving dealers, questions museum principles, challenges the economy of art making, and calls out the cattiness within this insular art industry. Now, in his latest exhibition, POWHIDA, which opens tonight at Marlborough Gallery, the artist surmises that we, “may never see an art gallery the same way again.” While this is a bold claim, as of press time, the contents of the exhibition are still shrouded in mystery, with the most tangible work on view being a sleek, Budweiser-stocked beer cooler (perhaps to aid any performative elements?); black leather couches (a nod to Duchamp?); and a glossy portrait of the artist that, given its aesthetic, was presumably painted by someone else (a critique on artists outsourcing their work?).
As an official sponsor of the show, Flavorpill was left wondering what we got ourselves into. However, if the artist’s previous work is any indication, we’re pretty sure the end result will be one of the wittier fuck you’s that Chelsea has seen in a while. We’ll find out when the show opens later today, in the meantime, we caught up with Powhida to talk about art world ills and why he’d rather be drinking than doing this interview.
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Today at Flavorpill, we were in awe of Alexander McQueen’s last collection. We were happy to hear that Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe already has a new acting gig on Showtime. (Suck on that, Howard Stern.) We played an intellectually stimulating game of I spy with William Powhida’s latest art world send up. We wondered if the formula for Hollywood movies is only making us more A.D.D. We considered trying out for Smashing Pumpkins, but we don’t play the bass. We couldn’t wait to read Patton Oswalt’s Firefly comic book. We discovered that back in the ’70s The Price Is Right‘s Bob Barker was super skeevy. We decided that it would take many cups of coffee before we’d be ready to walk into the psychedelic Nokia offices each morning. We realized that even when we’re really old one day, we won’t be able to touch King’s lomatia. We found out what Jessica Simpson has in common with an old sweater that we’ll never wear. And finally, we were excited to peep the slate for this year’s 15th Annual Gen Art Film Festival. Flavorpill is sponsoring the Closing Night film, Mercy, so more on that to come…
We’re on the record as fans of William Powhida, the artist who’s made a name in New York circles for needling the art scene from the establishment on down (including but not limited to: peers, curators, critics, galleries and dilettantes). In a well-timed maneuver for the advent of this week’s Armory Show, Jen Bekman’s 20×200 project has released a limited-edition Powhida print titled “Why You Should Buy Art.” We have to agree: nothing says ‘culture’ like a big ass painting. Word.
For more on Armory Week, including an art fair roundup, stick around this here space for a word from our sister pub Artkrush.
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Artist and provocateur William Powhida — who once predicted the post-boom odds of fellow contemporaries like Dash Snow — has issued a challenge to the New Museum on Bowery in his latest piece, which graces the cover of this month’s Brooklyn Rail. As an emerging artist in New York, Powhida’s satires of the art world cognoscenti hit close to home, and the skewering of the only museum in town that tries to cater to young artists and patrons is gutsy, to say the least. His drawing “How the New Museum Committed Suicide with Banality” depicts all the usual suspects, from Jeff Koons and critics Paddy Johnson and Tyler Green to museum director Lisa Phillips and curator Massimiliano Gioni. Urs Fischer, whose one-man show currently occupies floors two through four, is referenced as well, though we beg to differ that his exhibition “Margeurite de Ponty” is contributing to the NuMu’s so-called “self-injury.” See why, after the jump.
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