KUNSTFEHLER-FEHLERKUNST (Failed Art – The Art of Failure) ran at the ACC Galerie in Weimar till August 9th and is now at Halle 14 in Leipzig through Oct. 25.
Peter Santino’s contribution is a field of sand hemispheres that spell an apology in Braille. If the blind read it, they’ll ruin it.
Ambivalent regrets are nothing new for the (former Seattle) Northern California artist. In various forms, his apology text has been in motion since 1995, when, presumably, he first realized the error of his ways.
Translation:
Whomever,
On January 25th, 1968, when I first began my creative work, I felt certain I
had something to offer, a vision, something to put into the world. Now, some 41
years later, it has become clear that what I must offer is my sincere apology.
Nineteen years ago, I recognized and embraced my failure; my failure to
achieve a measurable level of artistic communication. Despite numerous exhibitions
and more than sufficient opportunities to explain my vision, no thing has been
achieved.
I must apologize:
I am Sorry for allowing my ego to convince me of my cleverness.
I am Sorry for allowing that cleverness to permeate my work.
I am Sorry, Very Sorry for assuming my vision had merit enough
to conquer,
to change,
to dominate.Peter Santino
Eureka, May 2009
Update: Dave Hickey discusses the reasons for art failure in a lecture taped by James Kalm, which the lecture hosts want to take down so watch them soon, part one here. Charlie Finch calls him a bulbous phony here. I don’t agree with a lot Hickey has to say this time out, but whatever he’s saying, he can’t be written off as a phony. Finch and Hickey have more in common than either is likely to own. Both are good writers with a tendency to swing wide at the lip.
I’m not sorry for anything, except the time I waste reading art blogs.
Good news, Leonard. A simple solution to your complex problem is at hand. Your hand.
I for one, am thankfull for Art blogs and any other learning tool that has its basis planted firmly within the soil of free expression.
With that said, I would ask by whose yardstick do we measure success?
Is it the bloated resume you seek?
How about the insincere but intellectually cute artist’s statement?
And ask yourself, was it adoration you were after when at first you made that fatefull decision to chase the carrot?
Monetary reward should have sent you elsewhere.
And let me ask, in the end, did you manage to find your art?
I do not believe Peter Santino is sorry. Like Woody Allen, he’s simply found another way to slip his ego under our ribs.
The artist may be sorry. If he is or he isn’t has nothing to do with his artwork. It’s art, not a personal declaration.
Erm, what are we supposed to do with Peter Santino’s apologies?
The “I am sorry” piece he did in Japan (on the anniversary of the American nuclear attacks) is interesting. But the other apologies read more like annoying provocations. Provocations for what, exactly, I don’t know. Pity?
Hi Susanna. An apology that will be destroyed if read as the form suggests? I think that’s perfect.
Okay, I am hopelessly biased- Pete has been a friend of mine for a long long time, and I respect his work immensely, and own a few pieces of it, too.
But how is it so hard to comprehend that he is BOTH sincerely sorry, and ironic, sly, and making comments about the art world?
Many of the best artists have not been 100% pure of art (or heart).
The human brain, and soul, is perfectly capable of feeling two things at once. In fact, its probably incapable of NOT doing so.
Santino is sorry because he did not become recognized as an artist by the powers that be.
And by the time we get to 50, any artist who is halfway honest with him or herself is probably sorry as well.
Santino is sorry because he did not accomplish all his grand plans, the ones he had when he was young and snarky and commenting on blogs.
Of our generation, the artists working in Seattle between 1975 and 1985, I think we all felt that if anyone was gonna “make it”, it was gonna be Pete. He could do it all, and do it all well. And yes, every thing he ever made was a bit ironic, a bit subversive, with more than one meaning. From his early flawlessly rendered ironic photorealism, to his ironic post pop art, his kinetic stuff, his sculptures, his paintings, his conceptual work, his earthworks- he was always the one we thought was gonna go to New York, and slay dragons.
So, I suppose, he is also Sorry to us- the artists who copped out, and had kids, got jobs, lived lives- instead of being complete slaves to fame, to doing whatever it took to get to the top. Because, in the end, Santino got married and had kids and left NYC and lived a life, because, in a funny way, he kinda gave up.
Which is not to say that if the Whitney called, or Gogo dropped by offering him a solo show, he wouldnt jump at it- he is an artist, after all.
One of the most interesting parts of the Dave Hickey talk was where Dave talks about the industry of producing artists, and how that is in many ways more important than the art- and, certainly, just like in professional sports, the ideal of making it is dangled before a few hundred thousand artists a year, to get them to drop that $100k to get an MFA. So I suppose Santino is also sorry that he didnt make it to the pros- after all, in art school, they tell everybody that you are just as good as Duchamp or Koons, and you too can make it- just keep buying those lottery tickets.
By the way, these are my opinions, not Petes- and if I get it wrong, well- I am sorry.