I don't know much about this person, but he is the only Czech artist-
in residence at De Ateliers in Amsterdam for the 07-08 season.
Video-performance, nods to many other artists and ultimately
nods back to himself...ie this work of his called Artstar.
The main issue here, to take it seriously, is the fear and transparency
of the artist- which Brody emphasizes by his being ridiculed by
the jury- which is itself ridiculed (the hyphenated Japanese name of the
lady art historian trying to quit smoking, the performer from Ostrava
who is offended, the ensuing acrimony...) This is where I think,
"I wish everyone spoke Czech": a few bad translations kill the
nuances, but overall it's pretty hilarious- although the laugh ends in a
head-shaking kind of sadness. And I dare say, a quintessentially
Eastern European species of fatalism.
Also noteworthy are these equally saddening dog-carpets that
comprise the "news" tab of his website. Between Duchamp and
Hirst, and entailing a similar amount of reflection.
2 comments:
I'm loathe to qualify Ondrej Brody's work with my own rants - after all, he seems to feel that the controversy is in fact the point of his work; but
Brody is ultimately more annoying than earth-shaking and certainly a far cry from revolutionary. I have to disparage his continued self-reference and his poorly outlined alignment with the Dadaists, whose work began specifically in protest of social complacency toward WW I and later toward the Art Establishment at the turn of the last century; in fact, Brody's work is far more Fluxus in nature, but he un-conceals his cowardice and inability to commit to his own work (which is my *biggest* problem with what he does) by refusing to connect to that movement (Fluxus); with so many Fluxus artists still living and still practicing, I dare say he's afraid of being called out. I mean - what Dada artist can argue with him? Nada Dada.
Brody is also, clearly part of the establishment, in complete contradiction to the Dada aesthetic and ideal. He has taken commissions from galleries and exhibited extensively in known art galleries, he is in artist-in-residence here and there and gives talks about his work; all standard fare for artists who operate within the main-stream - ie, are part of the establishment. He is, in fact, playing the game just the same as any other artist working within the borders of acceptability.
Furthermore, I find his work sadly typical of a lot of interventionists these days- hugely and profoundly uninformed. I heard him talk about his work the other night and to be honest, he *can't* talk about his work - his work neither speaks for itself and unfortunately for him, he can't speak for it either. It falls flat and remains not enigmatic, but dull and unenlightening. I'm not even inspired to ask, 'gosh, what's the point' - because it's obvious there is no point.
Brody is about 50 years behind the times, if not more. His few moments of insight are clearly coincidental - he's not even able to highlight those in his talks and to elaborate upon or exploit those ideas. His work would never fly in New York - and he'd be laughed out of LA faster than he could pee his pants.
Lastly, I have it on good authority he was on the make after his lecture the other night - anyone who uses their profession as a sexual lubricant - well... that's just pathetic. Does peeing your pants on TV really get you chicks?
Brody - read a book, read a newspaper, watch the TV, get a life - get a date for god's sake!
yet another thumbs-down update:
http://www.elmada.com/2008/02/
schleckt_kunst.html
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