Been a fan of Nick Cave since the 80s but have never gotten through any of his books. The whole Red Hand Files business really turned me off too. I don't want to be his friend; I want him to keep being a rock-n-roll vampire, but I get why he no longer can be.
Yes, I know what you mean. There's many artists (most, actually) I do not want to engage with on a social level, it's part of what I dislike so much about the pressure put on artists these days to come to their work with a whole social media following and schtick. Let there just be art! Let there be mystery! But sometimes I do enjoy an artist's online thing, so there's no absolutes. I did enjoy The Red Hand Files for a long time-- particularly in the wake of his son's death, he was incredibly generous in sharing the complexities of his grief and I was very moved by it. These days it has kind of morphed into fan service and him being the internets weird spiritual uncle, which is fine but less my thing. His mystique is well and truly gone tho, that's for sure.
My favorite (probably partly apocryphal) artist career is that of the painter Albert York. No one knew what he looked like. He never went to an opening or gave interviews. His gallery would get a package of paintings every five-ten years for which there was a long waitlist. This is a complete fantasy for us, but a guy can dream, right?
Thanks for your article. Gave me lots to think about besides Old Nick.
Wow! Thank you, I knew nothing about him and just went down a fun rabbit hole looking him up. You might enjoy the film Velvet Buzzsaw if you haven't seen it.
Think I saw that. Set in the art world? Anything that rips on those pompous windbags gets an automatic couple stars from me sight unseen. Have you read Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth or seen the movie with Alec Guinness? Maybe my favorite dramatization of the artist's life.
Been a fan of Nick Cave since the 80s but have never gotten through any of his books. The whole Red Hand Files business really turned me off too. I don't want to be his friend; I want him to keep being a rock-n-roll vampire, but I get why he no longer can be.
Yes, I know what you mean. There's many artists (most, actually) I do not want to engage with on a social level, it's part of what I dislike so much about the pressure put on artists these days to come to their work with a whole social media following and schtick. Let there just be art! Let there be mystery! But sometimes I do enjoy an artist's online thing, so there's no absolutes. I did enjoy The Red Hand Files for a long time-- particularly in the wake of his son's death, he was incredibly generous in sharing the complexities of his grief and I was very moved by it. These days it has kind of morphed into fan service and him being the internets weird spiritual uncle, which is fine but less my thing. His mystique is well and truly gone tho, that's for sure.
My favorite (probably partly apocryphal) artist career is that of the painter Albert York. No one knew what he looked like. He never went to an opening or gave interviews. His gallery would get a package of paintings every five-ten years for which there was a long waitlist. This is a complete fantasy for us, but a guy can dream, right?
Thanks for your article. Gave me lots to think about besides Old Nick.
Wow! Thank you, I knew nothing about him and just went down a fun rabbit hole looking him up. You might enjoy the film Velvet Buzzsaw if you haven't seen it.
Think I saw that. Set in the art world? Anything that rips on those pompous windbags gets an automatic couple stars from me sight unseen. Have you read Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth or seen the movie with Alec Guinness? Maybe my favorite dramatization of the artist's life.
I haven't but I will check it out!