Morley Safer's infamous 1993 art story
March 28, 2012 8:09 AM
Morley questions Jeff Koons, Jeffrey Deitch, and Hilton Kramer about contemporary art and whether it means anything at all.
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- Morley Safer can be said to be attacking fraud as a basis, if not the sole basis, for what has come to be called "modern art", which seems to be the case. Unfortunately, in a fraudulent way, he does not go far enough. He questions whether there is indeed any legitimacy to the pieces and describes it as a construct driven by those producing the material, "critics" who praise them and those willing to buy them. But he fails in depicting the buyers as necessarily "hoodwinked innocents". They are not. They know it's all a scam, too, and they are part of it! They know it is an artificial, fabricated system building cynically on the existing art world, creating "worth" solely on the basis of implying "value", guaranteeing resale profit. Of course, it's not always possible to maintain such imaginary systems, most have had to have some actual value behind them. Much seems to be the case here, in that "modern art" pieces are generally used as barter for drug transactions. They have "value" and, without serial numbers, are essentially difficult to trace, and can be transported more easily than cash or bullion. And, unfortunately, there are some who appear to allow themselves to be scammed by the material, most of them purchasers of what can be called general market franchising on posters, t-shirts. Or those talked into making a donation for a major project. Or those who are forced to pay, taxpayers whose crooked government has contracted with a "modern artist" to produce something for public spaces.
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