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| Herzog being too badass to look at the bear behind him. |
"I truly feel that in the world of the painter or novelist or film director there are no artists. This is a concept that belongs to earlier centuries, where there was such a thing as virtue and pistol duels at dawn with men in love, and damsels fainting on couches"
He takes the position that he is not an artist, and none of his work should be considered art. Rather, he considers himself to be more like a craftsman, and feels there is no room for the artist in the finished product. Herzog says:
"To remain anonymous behind what you have created means your work has an even stronger life of its own, and the work is all that is important. I have always felt that the creator is of no intrinsic importance, and this counts when it comes to my own work as well."
I really like his idea that the art piece should stand alone and not be influenced by who it was who made the piece. As a totally unknown artist, this idea would give me hope for my own work, though in reality I don't think that this attitude has really taken off in today's world. So much of what is considered great art has just as much to do with the artist as it does with the piece itself. Often even more so. While I agree that the celebrity of an artist can certainly change how people feel about their pieces, I think that stating that there are no more artists in today's world is a bold claim, and one that ultimately forces you to ask what art is, which is too big a question for this post.
Ahhh yes, what is art? As a practicing artist of any kind I don't think you can ever escape this question, which is endlessly frustrating and difficult to answer. I agree that by claiming there are no more artists you open up a world of other questions--I certainly hadn't thought about his comment that deeply (possibly because I don't like thinking that hard about the nature of art??) but I think you definitely raise a good point.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy that picture & your caption. So great. a+
The collaborative nature of his work and his reliance on chance and the input of his actors and crew put him more in line with the artisan than the solitary genius artist cliche. He seems to feel driven to reveal that ol' "ecstatic truth".
ReplyDeleteI think Herzog is a little off there as well. I think there are artists now just as there was thousands of years ago. I also that think that the line between artist and craftsman is blurry at best; anyone considering themselves either as either an artist or a craftsman would likely also consider themselves as a craftsman or an artist, respectively. So I am not so sure Herzog's claim is as bold as it seems.
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