2️⃣027: "i could've done that" 🍌

You know the phrase. We've all said it at one point or another when you come across a painting or a sculpture or some sort of installation in a museum that seems like it's not supposed to be there.

We ask ourselves as the words shoot from our tongue like flames coming to life with the sole purpose of attacking a piece of paper and turning it to ash faster than Elaine Benes can get banned from the best soup spot in the city.

Everybody's a critic, and everybody thinks they can do something that's already been done. And I used to be like this myself. I don't want to use the word "ignorance." That's too negative, but I like that idea. So let's say it's a response that comes from a "lack of understanding."

And that understanding isn't how hard it is to make a piece of art. Anyone can tape a banana to a wall and call it art, but only one person chose to do it. Only one person has ever consciously taken fruit and some duct tape and put it on a blank wall in the middle of an exhibit in what is probably the biggest week for art in the entire world and subsequently made everyone lose their shit.

Because art isn't just about what is done, it's about the intention (and the reaction)

And if you think this "art that isn't really art and anyone could do that" type of art is a new thing, you simply lack the understanding to realize that you're wrong.

Duchamp placed a urinal upside down and signed it with a random name in 1917, and nothing's been the same since.

People thought it was shit. People thought it was nothing. Real "artists" and "art critics" scoffed at it. But no one could stop talking about it. And people couldn't stop replicating it, or at least the idea of it.

And here we are, 104 years later, and I'm writing about it in a digital publication which will be sent through the air (aka the Internet) directly to your phone on 2uesday, December 7, 2021, at 8:55 AM. Al Gore's Internet, an invention Duchamp and all the people alive during the time his work was being discussed couldn't even dream of. They couldn't imagine the Internet because the idea of something like this would probably be considered heresy or black magic or just impossible.

Yet, here we are, 104 years later. Everything's changed. The world is moving so fast today, so many new things, so many breakthroughs that a person from 1917 would probably have a heart attack if they were to be transported to this time to witness it all.

And throughout all of this, we're still arguing over the same question inspired by one dude and his piss receptor over a century ago.

I have a straightforward answer for the difference between you and the individual who taped the banana and why it should be considered art: Because they fucking did it. And no one else did.

They literally, physically, taped that banana to a wall in the middle of a crowd they knew would respond to it.

I don't think art was ever meant to be a thing you consume passively. And by passively, I mean something that doesn't affect you in any way. Art is entertainment. Art is inspiration from peoples' lives, and we've all lived different lives. So we all have something to pick from and be inspired by. And other people with different lives and different understandings of the world will react to it in a way we cannot control. That's the risk an artist takes when they put their "drawings" or "sculptures" or "paintings" or "really fucking awesome newsletter sent every 2uesday that's probably 1000 words too long but fuck it, I'm in too deep there's no going back" out into the world.

Think about the Neanderthals. Besides drawing on cave walls to communicate, I bet they acted out in front of each other to get a reaction. It was probably some Three Stooges type shit doing physical comedy because they hadn't developed language yet, but that's still art!

That's what art is—something created to express yourself and elicit a reaction from someone else. Check out these definitions:

Now, whether you think it's good art or not, that's all subjective. What was the artist's intention? Is it a canvas with a red circle and an accompanying pamphlet with a 1000-word explanation of how the circle represents the lifeblood of humanity surrounding the planet, and if we hurt the earth, we're hurting ourselves because it's the thing that gave us life?

I don't know. Maybe it is. Maybe it's not.

What I do know is that someone intentionally drew that circle, put it on a canvas, wrote a description about it, and submitted it to a gallery to be displayed. And instead of doing that ourselves, if it's so "easy," we stand around drinking overpriced cocktails, talking about how this person isn't a real artist.

We see art, and if it doesn't match the preconceived notion of what we think "art" is supposed to be, then we don't consider it art. But who came up with the idea of what's good art and what's bad art?

(Again, as with most things we consider the standard today, it's probably all rooted in money and white supremacy, but y'all are smart inhabitants of the 21st century with access to the internet so you already knew that....right?)

Check out this "art"

The same artist made of all these: Pablo Picasso

The two oil canvasses were done when he was 15 years old. And the sketch, which you probably can attribute more easily as Picasso's, was drawn when he was 68 years old.

Did he get worse as an artist?

No. The opposite, he got so good, he needed new challenges. He started breaking all the rules and constructs of what anyone knew art was. The thing about art is, it's one of those things you need to know the rules before you can break them. You need to be so good at all the basics you can move away from the rules that are supposed to be followed and do something completely new and different and have it be pretty fucking awesome. At least, that's what I think you need to do it right. There are still people who are prolific with their art and don't really do shit except for copy-pasting well-known images and splattering paint on them (you know who I'm referring to, multiple peoplezzz).

The thing is, that's art too!

Maybe I don't personally consider it good art. But some people may love it, and some people may pay millions for it to hang it up in their living room and feel accomplished when they show it off to guests at a house party.

Some of you are probably thinking that they don't know what good art is, and they spend money on shit to try and show off to people. Even when that's true, the artist still got a reaction! They still did something that inspired someone to incorporate that painting into their lives. And we may once again not be sure if it's good or bad (since that's usually subjective), but we can be sure it changed someone's life (somewhat).

And all this makes me think of Virgil Abloh (RIP), who died days before Art Basel Miami 2021 kicked off. You could say he was at the forefront of modern art and design. One of the originators of the styles that have gone global through hypebeast culture (and HIP HOP REAL HIP HOP THE GREATEST MUSIC GENRE IN THE WORLD IF YOU DISAGREE FUCKING TEXT ME ABOUT IT).

Many people made fun of Virgil's style of putting words in quotes and considering that a "design." Here's a keychain. It says "keychain" with quotes on it. It's now worth $200. Is that really art?

Well, a lot of people would say it's not.

Maybe it's because they haven't bought in yet. That's all life takes, people buying in. Money is fake, we all just agreed to give it value, and now people die over it.

As memorials poured in on through social media and people shared things they loved about Virgil, one friend posted a quote from him that resonated with me.

Even though we give Virgil credit, after reading that quote, I feel like we still don't give him enough credit. Virgil understood how people would respond, understood the audience he was speaking to, and dove in headfirst, ready for fame and criticism. He allowed the discussion to take a life of its own while he continued quietly working on his "art."

And he kinda fucking took over the world while doing it. Some people hated it, a lot of people loved it. But through it all, he still did his thing. And we're going to be talking about it for years to come.

If that isn't "art," then I don't know what is.

PS: Tell Virgil to write “BRICK” on my 🧱