NFTs were great on the Tezos network. Few cents each, and you can fill your library with pretty little things by experimental artists. Collecting was fun. Artists in 3rd world countries benefited greatly. Then the PFP and corporate NFT era started and the whole scene was clogged with derivative slop.
I think art schools must bear some of the responsibility here. At least in my personal experience, students were constantly pushed to ‘look at other artists’ (meaning the famous ones within modern art) and produce work that echoed the same old themes and motivations i.e taking a mundane object/idea and ‘elevating’ it to artistic status. No room or scope for real creative thought or exploring the limits of those ideas. I was looking at people like Raymond Pettibon and my tutors didn’t even know who he was and tried to steer me towards Warhol and Duchamp.
I'm not entirely convinced this trend ever stopped. I mean, isn't that how high-end art works? Some rich folks buy paintings, and that's what gives them their value? Regardless of whether it's good or not. Some of the highest selling modern art from this past decade leaves me scratching my head sometimes.
Crapstraction is my favourite name for this brief efflorescence of derivative painting that sadly has never really gone away… stubborn things, these zombies.
I wouldn't say this is necessarily an "art movement" , this is just the mechanics of the art world and way the system operates. A big percentage of that 1% wealthy collectors buy as in investment and maybe then flip it. It's a gamble. Now we see over the last couple of years there has been a renewed interest in figurative art and these artists and new emerging artists are being affected by this too, as you know with those artists that made headlines about a month ago. It's just all part of the game, it's being done by the galleries inflating the prices and the collectors buying into the hype and then the hype dies and now is to get rid of this artwork, rinse and repeat. With those abstract paintings it's pretty much minimalist abstract expressionism, that would be the Art Movement, which is nothing new it's been done and redone to death.
why aren't the collectors and critics labelled zombies? it would be more fitting. this video doesn't ring true at all, the art is being unfairly lumped into a category that is then being used as a scapegoat for the collective laziness, greed, and vanity of investors, critics, artists, and audience alike.
In Canada, we are having an epidemic of people painting big colorful animals. There is still a strong landscape painting movement (including plein air) and of course First Nations and traditional artists are well represented too. There is very little innovation in our local scenes and its a god damn nightmare. Decorative art seems to be the best way to make money and call yourself an 'artist'. Sorry for ranting.
Naturalistic oversized hyper-detailed animal portraits are what happens when you maximize skill to compensate for having no ideas. But, at least they have technical skill.
Amazing video! The phrase "Kind of pretty, kind of whatever" is something I tried to define for the last couple years now and I haven't found words for yet. Will definetly stay in my vocabulary from now on. Sometimes you just see stuff and feel like, well, nothing.
OMG! MFA abstraction is so correct! I did not know this term but now I'll remember it forever! A few months ago I went to University of Haifa MFA graduate art exhibition and half of it had this vibe. Abstract and big. I tried taking it in but could not get the "why" except that they had to show somerhing but had nothing to say in the first place
My 2 cents: "They wanted to short sell", maybe not the best expression to qualify a market for quick returns. Short selling is betting against a overvalued stock and takes a lot of patience and a practiced eye to achieve. Maybe "day trading" would be a better fit for what you are trying to describe.
Christopher, when I was a pupil of Marvin P. Brown I was irascible, but DeStael then stole my heart and that’s where I have been stuck for the last 50 years. I’d love to hear your take on Nick. I am subscribing in anxious anticipation. How about it?
Good stuff Mr. West, and as you can tell from the other comments, you are not alone in noticing that the king has no clothes. Keep up the great work, I will be sure to check out your other videos! All the best, dan
great video! I’ve found that learning about the rise and fall of Zombie Formalism, has been really helpful to understand the figuration craze of the last few years, which thankfully seems to be subsiding. A period of artistic stasis that was driven by market forces.
Did Disney actually NOT go after the "artist" Lucien Smith for the absolute direct reprint of a frame from the Disney animated film on Winnie the Pooh? - I haven't searched any legal news, but it seems very out of character for them to not pursue blatant copyright infringement by theft. If the artists claims skills for his image framing, as perhaps some mitigating factor of its use, its ridiculous. THAT is true Zombie Art or I suppose Cannibalism.
Im sure the same guys who tried to sell off zombie art were really into NFT's lol. Also, would artists like Takashi Murakami and kaws count as zombie formalists or is that a whole other category? Their art is purely aesthetic but their money is made from mass production and luxury iconography so idk if the method plays a role.
it's much more about the market than the artists. They were making this kind of art because it is real to our time when people consume art through screens, there are a lot of great artists that deal with this kind of language, which is a consequence of our space and time, not the profit of those who pretend to know
Refreshing to hear about this work not being valued the way it was back then. For me, it was like looking at Trump- in disbelief that so many people fell for it. But it points to larger issues about these formula-based machines we’ve created and how you can stick almost anything into them. It will come out wrapped and boxed and ready for the market.
I would argue that Zombie Art is alive and well. I do not see in the galleries, museums, or internet art that isn’t in throes of an eclectic fit…a bit of figuration, a touch of abstraction, a pinch of cartooning, etc. Most of this work looks contrived to connote importance and value because it is made of the iconography of greatness. Art dealers and collectors seem to love showing what everyone else is showing or buying, which causes a glut of this soulless crap we are now being exposed to. Zombie Art is alive and well. Perhaps it is a movement that will not die.
It’s irresponsible to assume that all these artists didn’t think they were a part of art history; that they didn’t try hard and love what they were doing, and not just trying to sell to the wealthy. It seems to be a case where, once again, the art critic at the very least creates a “movement “ and puts these artists into a little box, and at the very worst labels all the work terrible and ruins careers. Most of the time, Jerry Salz doesn’t know what he’s talking about .
Also what is white? Simply skin color? I see a lot of a small group getting more exposure than a poor southern person painting roosters selling art on the corner.
@@hr2186identity politics has DEFINITELY completely taken over the art market. As a person who wouldn’t benefit from that, I just gave up on the art world and sell my art for cheap on Etsy. Basically selling my rooster paintings on the corner. And being content with that. The conceit of wanting to become famous or rich in the official art world is kinda gross anyway. Why should art be this elevated thing that only the elite can understand and enjoy after the academics tell us what we should like? I’m trying to learn to be ok with my snobby academic elite relatives snickering behind my back as I sell seascapes for cheap to individuals who enjoy them. This is what art should be anyway, things that people want to see.
Maybe the real survivors are the ones who took the money and decided to quietly make art for arts sake, and the ones that are lost are the people chasing personal sales records and whoring themselves out to a slightly more educated class of speculator.
and mary ann what's her name bowlregard walks every major city's art district showing gallery after gallery of gigantic ab-ex. i can't wait till it's gone.
Most conteporary ¨art¨ is pure speculative bubble. The emperor is wearing no clothes. If a piece of art can't be considered as such in a no capitalist system then it's not art
That was quick! I was all ears for this subject. The video was too short. There is no art for the people anymore. When work, the size of billboards dominates the market, only museums and the super rich can play the game. They're gamblers now, not art collectors.
Vid gripe: a thorough understanding of art history in order to create/appreciate great art. We're not solving some unending equation here! ;) Having said that, seeing the "Zombie Formalism" term for the first time here, my initial suspicion was that it somehow had to do with AI's auto-generation of images and other known formals. Cool channel, hitting up some other of the vids here for later viewing pleasure.
I can't be the only one that think the examples you chose all looked fantastic and were really not good choices. There was a lot of very redundant artists (think the "melt-and-pour" and "doodle" artists of that era whose names are now gone) that are way better choices.
Why is making things for art history supposedly superior to making things for art market? Making things for art history has lead to some very elitist BS.
I’m not sure how this story is different from that of any other art movement. Of all the people who painted cubist works, how many of their names are unknown to you? Zombie Cubism.
So if I look up these artists who survived now I should see art that is moving the artform forward? Am I right in concluding this? For someone who's instinct says that this description applies to all contemporary art, where should they start looking to learn about how things are moving "forward" today. (This is my first video from the channel so I'll be watching more)
Bubble popping leaves us with flat champagne. It is hard to appreciate contemporary art when so much just seems flat. Kinda wonder, did zombie formalism really go away? I'm looking at the price of housing and it sure looks like 2008. At least flat champagne will still get one drunk.
Do you think you’ll ever make it over to the U.K. any time soon? Right now is the best time to be in London for art 😊 Bacon’s exhibition has just opened, there’s a fantastic Monet exhibition, Van Gogh has one too! Plus Michael Craig Martin at the royal academy and Tracey Emin at white cube just to name a few 😅
I somewhat disagree with the idea that Van Gogh couldn't be a plumber. Lots of us have to create, can think of no life without creating, but we have a have a stupid job to pay the bills. (I'm only nit picking, I love your videos)
@@christopherwestpresents Oh no, I didn't think that at all, I just meant that a lot of us call ourselves artists and do the work, but still have to be plumbers - or in my case teachers - regardless!
funny enough the critique by those post 2010 critics can as well be seen as a zombie critizism, hence in former times that phenomena was just called eclectizism or in its most infamous form plagiarism.
I'm someone who jumps at the chance to defend an art movement or artist. Paint a red streak on a canvas? I'll be here to defend it as art. Paint a canvas white only? I'll be here to defend it as art. And I expected, never having heard about this "movement", to write a long comment defending its merits. There is no long comment here and that should tell you everything about my opinion without me having to elaborate any further.
In my opinion the worst, least successful art, is not the work that’s aggressively bad and that I strongly dislike. It’s the art that makes me feel nothing at all. Utterly useless
How can I take this guy seriously if his describing of Art history is off? Moderism wasnt just another ism in a list of isms. If Art history is depicted as a tree, modernism would be the larger branch that all these isms would grow out of.
Yet another reason I am glad not to be part of the Art world. The collectors and galleries I have dealt with in the traditional/realist world seem much more interested in the work itself than just flipping for money.
A person becomes famous, they start doing something that resembles art, usually the stuff you see in Walmart and other stores mass produced in some God-forsaken place, by 10 /15 people working an assembly line of pieces, So these famous people now put up their , say painting for sale. For some reason, they get good money for bad art. Hitler's work sells for a lot of money to a special group. So I guess the exact same rendition done by different people will pull good money only because of a name. I guess Marjory Taylor Green could get even richer after leaving office by passing some colored crap on a panel, sign it, and put it up for sale. One of my Mentors back in the 70s once said to me, when I showed him a picture of what I thought was a great piece, due to the way lines and colors were used, he said "It looks fascinating, but never confuse clever for art."(D, Cabarga)
That was good advice! And people will always buy bad art - I actually don’t see anything wrong with that. But it doesn’t mean it will make it to the museum or art history books.
@@christopherwestpresents I never became rich I struggled for years but those who have my works won't give them up. Now that I'm a;most 80 people are now wanting me to produce and money isn't a problem. Everything I have ever done was for clients, not Galleries. Now that I;m retired I'm doing what I want to do, if they buy it OK, if not that is OK. Actually this video that you made has given me more pess and vinegar to keep going .Thanks
Unfortunate, that big spotlight in art is tied with the people with money. Just a bunch of NPCs buying whatever looks like their 6th grader ideas of what good art is. "Look at these scribbles and zigzags! He must be demented and torn inside". Even worse the ridiculous artists that sell them this fantasy. But whatever, anything goes.
"I don't like Zombie Formalism because it's banal, easy, and just done for the sake of publicity." Ironic, because that's exactly how I feel about all these digital "art critics" who provide nothing substantive about the actual content, other than "it's expensive, and then it wasn't expensive, so it's bad." You all make the same unoriginal arguments over and over again. Then the comments become an echo chamber of like-minded sciolists. The great irony is some of them then say "Yea Zombie Formalism sucks, but so does your Ed Ruscha painting!". People like Theodor Adorno were make similar conservative criticisms 100 years ago. Y'all would be the same people who attacked impressionist paintings with umbrellas; only a century later do you actually have the wherewithal to appreciate artists who you would've derided.
Murillo would be nowhere if it was not for the big collectors the Rubells propping him up when he was young. I have always found his work empty of everything, completely dead.
I feel all art today is just "made for the market"... Sure there are hidden gems, but all in all, everything I see online is just formalist jargon with no sense of talent or even hard work.
I wouldńt label Oscar Murillo or Lucian Smith as white males 😂, on other hand nowadays I keep on seeing hundreds if not thousdands of artists of all colors and genders continuing doing that style of “art”
Why should we be beholden to “progressing art history” or whatever? Making stuff is fun.. that is enough. And if some asshat wants to spend the down payment on a house on it just to shove it in a closet, it is them I think might be more deserving of criticism. I don’t create to revolutionize art, and it seems like a trap to try to. It’s fun, and when done with care can produce work that makes people happy. Capitalism is the problem. Weeding out the bad faith actors on both sides of the transaction of art sales, including brokers and spineless gallery curators might better serve the ideal that you seem to hold. It’s your fault as much as the folks trying to launder their money for whatever reason. The business of art is a thing wholly separate from art, as you expressed in your Picasso couldn’t be a plumber BS. I know a lot of trade workers who make awesome work without concerning themselves with this entire circle jerk in the slightest.. the critics as well would serve their supposed purpose if they weren’t compelled to write to make content on a schedule to make their salary. The business of art is straight garbage all the way down and I love that some artists managed to get a 10k plus bag on an afternoons worth of work.
