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Is Matthew Barney Naked?Barney's Cremaster films can be difficult to see. So is it worth it?
Matthew Barney's art films are very selectively screened, so how are we to know if his work is worthwhile or just a flash in the early 21st-century pan?
For weeks I have been researching the artist Matthew Barney in an attempt to get to know his films and artwork better. Barney is, after all married to the musician Bjork (The Sugarcubes and solo artist) and is one of the hottest contemporary visual artists around. Never heard of him? There's no surprise. Unless you live in a major world city or read Art News or Art in America chances are good you will never hear of Matthew Barney or be exposed to his artwork. Matthew Barney resides in New York City and is best known for his Cremaster film series. I would love to be able to review these films but you can't buy them commercially, not even on used dvd sites. You can buy a portion of his Cremaster 3 film that is entitled The Order. And even this Barney appetizer is only 30 minutes of Cremaster 3, an art film that runs over three hours. You can also check out the DVD Matthew Barney: No Restraint from 2006. Barney retains his exclusivity by only allowing some people to view his work, say at large art museums in large cities. So my question is...is this right? If Matthew Barney is everything the art critics are saying, he is an unparalleled, contemporary artistic genius. I would like to be able to see all of the Cremaster Cycle films so that I could make that judgement for myself. So perhaps Matthew Barney feels that to mass produce his artwork would be to demean the work? My theory is that when you produce artwork in a reproducible medium you should distribute it as far as possible. This doesn't mean Barney would have to compromise his artistic vision for a mainstream media producer. Barney doesn't have to censor and tidy up his Cremaster films to sell them to Disney. Why couldn't Barney release his films independently? If one of the main ideas of art is to communicate (and it is) then I think Matthew Barney's ideas need to be more readily available. Otherwise, for those of us on the outside, the alleged talent of Barney does appear to be just the emperor's new clothes. Art does not have to be FOR the masses but it should be promulgated to everybody, not just a few.
The copyright of the article Is Matthew Barney Naked? in Art & Society is owned by Mary Rayme. Permission to republish Is Matthew Barney Naked? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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