The Hoax- "Nat Tate" by WIlliam Boyd and David Bowie

I recently came across a very interesting audience interaction from the 1990s which grabed my attention. It was a great piece of public artwork in the fact that it fooled nearly every audience member that was witness.

In 1998 artist William Boyd collaborated with the enigmatic rockstar, David Bowie, to create a work of pure fiction that shimmered brilliance. Basically, with the help of Bowie's publishing company, and no doubt some of his social influence Boyd succeeded in tricking all of the art world into believing a fabricated biography of a non-existant artist named Nat Tate.

In the biography it was claimed that Tate was an abstract expressionist whose work and presence was sought after by many different bodies within the American art scene. He is reported to have been a close friend of Picasso and Braque as well as a secret lover of Guggenheim.

After reslising his own artisti shortcomings, upon a visit to a fellow practitioner's studio, Tate decides to end his short-lived caeer in a dramatic manner. He first burns all of his work and then commits suicide of a State Island Ferry.

From Gore Vidal (who wrote a foreword) to Picasso's personal biographer, there was a plethora of high-art names who were "in " on the scam. This may have lead to it's success and the demeanour in which it was so well orchestrated.

However,what i find amazing and truly awe-inspiring about this act is that it was the equivalent of a prank phone call taken to a more grandiose level. It targeted the Art world and the complete arrogance and naiivity of those within it, especially the critics.

Everyone fell for this work,save a select few and it's success is paramount. The fact that it is such a cnvincing piece of literature made it into art, for me.

Theere seemed to be a targeted audience in this instance. Bowie and Boyd did not really want to give a message of humiliation to the general public. It was more focused towards those who domesticated themselves in the high life of the art world and were so willing to buy into whatever produced crap was put out. Indeed, there were many occasions in which memers of the sudience exalimed that they "Knew him!"...this fictional practitioner. So the two pranksters exploited the sheep mentality and utterly moronic devotion to whatever was exhibited byplaying a joke on on everyone.

This is a clear demonstration of audience participation and the way in which materials( in this case a novel) could e used to manipulate an affect the bystanders, engaging them completely. I might think about fabricating y own lies within my work to try and fool some critics. The idea of mine is slghtly different to Bowie's in the fact that it is a fictional piece, not an artist that i am concerned with.

Gavin Turk

I recently stumbled upon an artist who's practice, in relation to the audience, rings true tomy current work.

Gavin Turk is a renowned practitioner who has had major exhibitions and even had his work put into the Saatchi Gallery.

What is perhaps most intriguing abouthis work is that he creates a false sense of accomplishment and persona. In his work "Cave" he simply places a plaqe in the gallery, noting that he worked thereas a sculptor between a set of dates. Immediately the audience is forced to conjure up some respect for him and assume that he had a powerful and influential career.

He furthermore goes on to make a Sid-Vicious/Elvis- esque wax work of himself in a pose reminiscent of Hollywood Stars. This workcould have come straight out of Madame Tussauds due to the positioning and caliber of the finish and as a spectator you find it all too easy to elieve this lie of his self-projected stardom. His work also flows through contemporary media, in the fact that he made a mock up of "Hello" magazine, featuring himself in a typically A-list front page story.

Indeed, when questioned, Turk claims that his materials are irrelevant as they constantly change, though it is the idea which is the driving force.

His fabrication and manipulation of the audience is something to aspire to and highly relevent to my own work as i aim to do the very same with my viewers. I like the way that his pieces are merged into the galleries themselves, to give more believability to them. Maybe i might think abot how my own work could be positioned and making an alter ego or constructing some ack story to a fictional character to really take this through. Ifi want it to work then i really want to go the whole hog!!

WEN WU- Chinese Arts Centre

I was at one of my favourite haunts in Manchester today. The Chinese arts centre has a consistent flow of new and exciting artwork from some of the forerunners in the Asian arts movements.In fact i often find it far more intriguing and enticing than a lot of the mainstream pap that's put on display in the central galleries.

Some rather interesting encounters faced me upon entering the narrow corridors on this particular occasion. I managed to have a rare glimpse that the audience is seldom given, as i saw the artist of the current exhibit, " " installing his piece for the next show. Indeed, it was an installation work so he was literally starting from the ground up.....totally absorbed in this practice and far too busy to chat. To me it seems that modern spectators never have this opportunity...to see the work before it is finished, never mind in the infant stages, as i saw today. So having seen this i, as a member of the audience can go back and view the piece with completely unique perspectives to those around me.

Another artist's work that struck me during my time in the gallery was Wen Wu, whose pieces seem likened,in style to that of Goya, with a classical feel. Although the most captivating aspects of the work was what i read in the information, again donating me, the viewer, a completely novel insight and reaction to that of my primary.
Wu's work is conudcted in a bizarre, trance-like state, wherein she imagines herself as a middle aged homosexual Greek from the classical period exploiting her fantasies of the handsome male youths. The title of the work is a play on the old Chinese proverb, "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman"....though Wu switches the latter to read; "Eat, Drink, Man, Man".

She explores numerous homosexual references and the focus on the female gaze, through subjects relating to Oscar Wilde and the Ancient Greek Myth of Ganymede. Her use of food in pieces also suggests the unseen taboo and consumption of male beauty (the modern-day "Emo-males with feminine characteristics).

I found her work to be of use for many reasons. Firstly, for aesthetic values,they were very well conducted pieces. Her exploration of an ideal, a lie...if you will, that she lives through her practice struck a note with my own. I am trying to convince the audience of a sculpture that does not yet exist and she uses a false identity to convey something to the audience....so this...i found fascinating. The discussion of a Greek Myth in modern artworkwas also refreshing to me as, as a member of an audience i am captivated by these tales.

Indeed, on a final note i wouldlike to explain my thoughts on the gallery itself. Being named the "Chinese Arts Centre" the insitution sets itself up for a very strict set of clientel and exhibitors. Peraps this may also reverberate upon a select minority audience?!? They made use of the whole building, with exhibitions in the toilets as well. So it seems to me that they are testing the boundaries of the gallery,whilst working in a restricted space and with cultural morals.

Audience Theory

 I recently read a piece of text from an essay by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, entitled "What is Art?"

 The essay concerned numerous, highly relevant points to the development and understanding of an audience, or rather, a notion of an audience and what viewers might think. It is useful, i believe, to compare it to many contemporary opinions and works, aligned with their receptions from the public.

 Tolstoy makes the argument that:

"Every work of art causes the receiver to enter a certain kind of relationship both with him who produced, or is producing, the art, and with all those who, simultaneously, previously, or subsequently, receive the same artistic impression."

 This extract is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, I agree that as a member of the audience, if you "get" and artwork then you feel much closer to the maker and anyone who has shared this emotion of attaining the importance or aim behind it. 

 Yet, as we know in a modern art world, the art is not always made to be "comprehended" or "appreciated" for beauty or aesthetic aspects. 

The author goes as far as to say that art must contain a christian set of morals and follow a code of beauty, relevant to the time (i suppose highly Russian Orthodox 1890s brand of Christianity) to be considered "Good Art" and all that that counters this mind-set is certainly "Bad" or "False" art.

 Such a dated view cannot be applied to an audience in a contemporary, creative world, due to the fact that belief systems, tolerances nd boundaries/morals have simply changed.

 It is interesting to see, therefore, how dated a view this is. I would be quite intrigued to compare this to a modern text or essay on viewer theory, to see how much substance it holds.

 I mean take Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" for example. Tolstoy would have been horrified to see this put in an art gallery, let alone, conceived....as would many of the viewers in his time. 

Indeed, on a side note, what is so interesting about this text is that he always uses the male as the spectator. This would have been a time when women would have been consigned to the home, too poor , as most families with those circumstances, to get out to art galleries, and not welcome perhaps.

So it is also noteworthy to make the distinction of the wide spectrum of the modern audience, suiting all genders, as well as religions. Everyone has so many different tastes that it is not up to the artist to convey beauty necessarily, but what is reflective of their own life and practice, which, coincidentally, may reveal itself to be beautiful, to some members of an audience.