“The artist is not responsible to anyone. His social role is asocial; his only responsibility consists in an attitude, an attitude in the work he does. The artwork comes into being in the artist’s head, and it stays in the artist’s head. There is no communication with any public whatsoever. ”

- George Baselitz

Model: artist as skilled workerMyth1: artist as great technician, virtuoso (non-critical role)myth2: artist as rule-breaker, anarchist

Model: Artist as IntellectualMyth1: artist as genius (from Renaissance; focus on individuality)Myth2: artist as naïve innocent

Model: Artist as EntrepeneurMyth1: professional/marketable; artist as independent hero (cult of personality)Myth2: starving artist

Model: Artist as Social CriticMyth1: artist as social critic Myth2: bohemian or social parasite (by way of a devaluing of artists’ activities; usually by groups threatenedby social criticism)

Model: Artist as Social HealerMyth1: artist as mystic

Myth2: artist as charlatan, trickster, fraud

Pino SignorettoJeff KoonsHanging Heart

Leonardo Da Vinci

Henry Rousseau

Joseph KosuthThree Hammers1965 Buzz Spector

Freeze Freud1992

Vincent Van GoghPablo Picasso

Helen Frankenthaler

Nature Abhors a Vacuum1973, Acrylic on canvas

Mike KellyPay for your Pleasure1988

The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign), 1967, Bruce Naumann

Mierle Laderman Ukeles

The Social Mirror, 1983

Touch Sanitation 1978-80

Joseph Bueys

The Pack, 1969

Implications of Social Roles:

Are these stereotypes true? Are they useful?

Responses:

The creation of the myths is an act of cultural appropriation, as

Hal Foster explains: these myths then serve as “substitutes for

active social expression and as alibis for consumerist

management”

He considered what the German artist Joseph Beuys once described as “the enlarged conception of Art,” which includes, as Beuys put it, “every human action.” Life itself might be a work of art, Mr. Lowe realized: art can be the way people live.

http://www.nytimes .com/2006/12/17/arts/design/17kimm.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=cb028cf20506be7b&ex=1324011600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Dan Peterman, Villa Deponie