A Visit to the Bill Arnett Collection Part II

[3589546]

I agree, that alot of that stuff is more authentic and influentual than Picasso's. Will they rewrite art history to correct that? Nah. Cuz day po folk.

[gabrielshaffer]

If you could just see a body of this work and separate yourself from the semantics the art world argues over it, its really hard to deny that they arent remarkable works. Dials major works hit you in the gut, especially in person, its almost impossible to convey it fully through film or photos.

[whitestalkervan33]

there work is clearly influenced by the black south? What did Picasso live in the Black South? Please teach us Professor Bill!

[alabamamichimeko]

picasso looked at Africa

[chickengeorge1236]

Arnett could get in trouble for being a colonialist who wants to raid the high art world with his Georgia contraptions, by claiming ,"look what i have discovered,!" and here is why you have dismissed it!, i think the writing on the wall is how Arnett describes the way an artist functions , makes work, and carries on with himself or herself, i suspect this is more a culture statement, less an artist one.

[StevenChandlerArtist]

is thorton dial really drawing from some tradition? BA contradicts himself here by saying this-if blacks, as he said, had no voice going back to slavery, then where is the tradition of what Dial is pulling from? a tradition of oppression? most artist and art start from some source of oppression, even emotards, if I want to read about Gees Bend history according to BA, I have to look at what he has said here and credibility is lost, get the history right, not opinion babble, history=credibility

[chickengeorge1236]

Hell ya,TD is pulling form a tradition White folks believe about Black folks , that they have a repressed side of them that seeps out and shows what Humanity is about, this is what Arrnet is talking about , in educating civil society about the past., TD seen to rise to the moment, hummm,

[StevenChandlerArtist]

good debate, but I have to say this as well,talkin' about blues? listen to traditional spiritual irish church music anglo saxon gospel, played in the churches while the slaves worked the fields.What did they have to absorb? White spiritual musics roots to the blues is just as important as African traditions, Arnett needs to look into Alan Lomax if he is going to cookie cut the history of the blues...A dealer has to promote his artist, but with these artist, there is no need to fabricate history

[chickengeorge1236]

painstaking problem with Arnett, is the value of his collection is meant to be educational, not contemporary , you almost cann't understand this, unless Arnett and these other southern culture "folk art" experts are there like tour guides. Hell, that's why we know about this stuff, guys like him get it out there and promote it,. which is good, but what they say but it smacks of some of preachy  modernistic rants about discovering the primitive in modern society ,(yawn) its bio over art

[StevenChandlerArtist]

right CG,Dial is just not that strong of an artist visually,overworked,titles to his work are strong,heard a rumor that Arnett may have title some.Seen many an artist overworked paintings like Dial,Holley and the assemblage, give any artist access to a junkyard,something is going to happen. I trashed my years of tetanus art from my families burned, house the two dont warrant the hype as apposed to say Doyle/ Traylor, truly Black Vernacular.How many of those does Arnett have in his warehouse?

[StevenChandlerArtist]

by the way, excellent video!

[StevenChandlerArtist]

they're good artist, Purvis is a great Action Painter.I have some of his paintings and they are truely something else. Dial, we saw a lot of that 20-30 years ago in 2nd year college studio painting classes. I saw some of Hollies Horses at the High and could only think of Debra Butterfield 30 years ago, so they are good artist, even great artist...but what is new here?

Arnett is great promoter, the Don King of the black vernacular.

[jameskalm]

I go to Picasso at Gagosian, Bacon at the Met, and no one asks "what's new here?". Perhaps with these artists, it's less a question of "what's new here" than, how the rest of the commercial so called new art is co-opting their ideas, and repackaging them as "new".

[StevenChandlerArtist]

Picasso, Bacon, of course, they've been around a long time.What bothers me about Arnett is how he spins artist such as Dial and Holliy,bends art history .I don't think the Combine Painters of the 50's were looking at artwork created by dial who was not making art until what ,the 1970's? Lonnie Holley was born in 1950 The Black Mountain artist, they were too concerned with breaking out of the Abstract Expressionist static or wrestling with Picasso.

[jameskalm]

I think what Arnett is saying is not that these New York artist were looking at Dial or Holly or Young, but that they were exposed to the same cultural traditions, a nonEuropean, grassroots, abject type of vernacular art, which was endemic to Southern Black culture.

[StevenChandlerArtist]

I think he was saying these southern black artist that he pretty much discovered and stock-piled their work is as good if not better and maybe even inspired the great modern and post modern artist of the 20th century, which is total B.S.. Arnett is a dealer not an art historian...

[StevenChandlerArtist]

No that's not right, talking the 1950's, they were very much in revolt towards Europe, it wasn't nonEuropean, it was antiEuropean,I mean listen to Arnett, if he is correct, then Blacks had no artistic voice back then, why would these "New York Artist" have anything to do with them, they didn't, they didn't exists Rauschenberg/Johns wanted to piss off the drippers and the girations. You are the 2 who bring up and compare to Picasso.Why?

[apepumpkin08]

James this collector is so great, I learned alot from this footage, I was wondering what Bill Arnett does for a living to be able to amass such a large collection. These pieces were great especially the one with the opened up cans of paint that look like flowers..thanks again

[jameskalm]

He's a dealer/collector, and also publishes books on these artists and their works.

[violetandpearl]

Mr. Kalm, The level of intelligence and insight you bring to this medium is unsurpassed. Your time and dedication is appreciated beyond words!

[JorgMendes]

Great....

[candeaguilar]

SUPER!!!!

[seintzeit]

"we can't have our museums looking like the nba" ?

yack yack yack

[kali999L]

I wonder if Mister Kalm is aware of how huge of a fan base there is? Believe me there are tons of us that watch these videos over and over. Anyway because of you, a couple of us recognized an artist or two while in NY a time ago and had the courage to walk up to uber nice people like Erik Parker and the cool cat himself, Chris Martin......totally inspring and good memories there..so when's the next episode? Any hints on the subject?

thanks,

E.

[jameskalm]

Episode 300; Picasso "Mosqueteros" at Gagosian, on the down low next week. Thanks for your fandom,

JK

[fox408]

james, these two video's are the best you have made, thank you so much! bill arnett raises some very pertinent points, namely that 'this whole field of art gets reduced to a sub species of 'self taught' or 'folk' or naive art' ...its never considered simply as 'american art' ...and 'the people that created blues & jazz & rock n roll couldnt have evolved in art only to the level of naivety' ...great stuff, thanks again!

[decafjnr]

Amazing art!

[spawndawnacl]

I grew up in Memphis in the 50's and 60's BWR. No offense intended toward individuals. Today, I would be shunned for sitting with blacks at the IBM plant cafeteria in Charlotte. Colorado rejected slavery because blacks weren't wanted even as slaves. Brigham Young brought two slaves with him into the Salt Lake Valley before proclaiming "this is the place." Chin up, someone has to be the worst. REM sucks. Take that. And so does Harry Connick Jr.

[bobwilsonray]

Sorry James.I just get fed up with the white southern bashing.Please, don't assume we are all the same down here. I have met people from all over & I try to deal with them on an individual basis.I try not to say well their from the north they blah, blah, blah...I try to deal with them on the basis of how they treat me.Look for bigotry you will find it.We don't all have sheets with eye holes cut out in them stored in our closets.I don't own a rope or have a cross to put in someone's yard.

[jeffreysart]

like john lennon sings ,'imagine'

[hankjunior]

These works deserve their own place in The MET.

Super Heavy Spiritual vibe.

Field Hollers

Robert Johnson

Jimi Hendrix

fantastic

thanks James

[chandru1103]

That would be very nice.

[bobwilsonray]

From the south: Let the Black people decide whether it is exploitation. It's their art! It's Dial's art. Most of these opinions being expressed are probably from the "Cracker" barrel! I don't even like Nascar myself. I don't care about the black or any other population in Colorado. I have no opinion of people from Colorado but one certainly does about "all" white southerners. You are assuming we all dispise the black man down here, go to car races and have sex with out sisters? Bite me!

[jameskalm]

Please, posters, let's try to keep this civil.

I was always more of an NHRA fan myself.

JK

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

Yes. The alternative is to have the work ignored.

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

Is this anymore exploitative than the academic art we see in most galleries in town, and in every knock-off in the hinterland? I've taken a long look at the fraktur-schriften in my own PA Dutch subculture. Visual jazz. I will go where the strength is. What attracts me is the root aesthetic of having nothing to lose and nothing to gain. Survival and a singular human statement. Best -

[spawndawnacl]

Is Akroyd preserving the blues with his House of Blues chain clubs, t-shirts, and souvenir shot glasses? Please note the explanation that our greatest artists were influenced by this stuff. I just fear that in a sequence of exploitations, this may be just another phase. Hendrix never knew when he was playing in the mixolydian mode and I've never considered Picasso a sculptor. I hope Bill isn't just collecting penny stocks. He damages himself when he speaks. Thanks many many times

[jameskalm]

I think we're confusing the message with the messenger. Bill is a controversial figure, knows exactly how to hit folks "hot buttons". I felt privileged to have him open up and spend considerable time with me and my family. For me the work is paramount. Questions of "exploitation" (having dealt for 25 years with the NYC art world) are another matter.

[spawndawnacl]

OK, I'm aware of the possibility that I'm being an asshole here just because of the accent. I cringed with the use of the phrases "subspecies," "separate but equal." "NBA," etc. In bars in the deep South, I am frequently asked, "what is the nigger situation like in Colorado?" I've had it explained to me why the south embraces NASCAR. No black drivers. Go look at Beal Street in Memphis. Is this preservation? Hard Rock Cafe's. The founding fathers wanted to doze the place for decades.

[jameskalm]

If the choice is House of Blues or nothing, I'd have to say, House of Blues. And give me a T-shirt while you're at it.

Check out the timwoodmedia site. Just watched the Purvis Young vid last night, BEAUTIFUL.

[lettherebeart]

wow Thanks James for such a wonderful video so much amazing art so much to see

[BlissStudio]

This has tottaly inspired me! I felt this was somewhere out there but I didnt know where to look. Thanks James

[jeffreysart]

eye of the beholder ,imagine

thanks for the education James

[kali999L]

The strength and heart behind that compared to what is within the hallowed white walls of N.Y. ....In awe and eyes opened.

Thank you so much. Hats offf to Mr. Arnett for the love and intensity felt in those words. He really really gets it. Honest and heart into the work people. Agreed agreed.

And thanks for now turning me on to Mr. Young. Loved it to bits. I feel foolish for not searching more. Off to hunt for more truth across the land and make my own. Thanks again.

[yellowfringe]

I live in the Atlanta area and I find out about this amazing art from a NY video journalist! So I sort of understand Bill's experience of, after traveling the world, finding great art in his own backyard. Again, James, thank you.

[MrPixies]

wowowowowow to both videos, great work you do for me, us too. Great last words, NBA comment, lol, yeah i'm inspired. I love Cy Twombly and Tal R, this video is like a dream they wold have.

[RonSchira]

Very cool, thanks

[frege666]

What a collection. Great to see.