THE ART OF FALLING APART‘Committing intentional commercial suicide’

THE ART OF FALLING APART

‘Committing intentional commercial suicide’

A large part of my role as a design tutor has been to encourage creative outcomes, while leading them to explore ‘commercially’ viable solutions that do not sacrifice the artist’s vision. The question is, what does it mean to be ‘commercial’ today?

We are wading through an unprecedented period of legend brand domination, franchise exhaustion and stagnating culture.

The world is, I believe, starved of authenticity, a commodity that most established ‘commercial’ endeavours have now diluted beyond recognition.

So what does this mean today, to sell creative output and make a living from what you do?

It would be fair to say that the recipe for success is an extraordinarily complex one! Much of what we see as good (or successful, beautiful, cool, modern) is dependent on so many factors: Craft, personality, timing, audience reached and of course the secret sauce…

Over the years I have been privy to many companies that have fallen foul to that old adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ in an attempt to maintain former successes. Makers are often guilty of not moving forward in the quest for (or to maintain) commercial success…

As someone that tends to generally feel exhausted by newness and change, I know and embrace the fact that these factors are at the core of my chosen field.

Who we are and what we produce does not often walk hand in hand with the latest consumption trends…

We are in essence asking for something new yet familiar, something that services our needs or perhaps, is so innovative it cultivates a new need or desire.

As an artist I believe that it is the doing that brings purpose your sacrifice of time and the authenticity of the endeavour is the value. Making art serves no actual purpose I make textiles and accessories that no one needs, but some may wish to own. Measuring its success is subjective. Simply diluting its ‘value’ down to a mere commodity and the metric of popularity is a slippery slope for all creatives.

So where to begin, where to find ‘success’?

I love the authenticity of unobserved spaces, places where great works are done behind closed doors, benefitting no-one, but amassing a vast catalogue of work, ready to be discovered!

For example, the work of ‘Outsider Artists' self-taught artists operating outside the mainstream art world. A place where anyone can express themselves, making art that is often unrecognised/undiscovered.

An extraordinary example being Henry Darger.

A reclusive American janitor from Chicago. His life spent alone in a one-room apartment. His work was posthumously discovered, a 15,000-page novel, In the Realms of the Unreal, illustrated with hundreds of large, vivid watercolour and collage drawings depicting the (imagined) epic war of the Vivian Girls against child-enslaving villains, the tyrannical Glandelinians…

Henry Darger 1892 - 1973

Compare Darger’s lifestyle and work, with the current efforts designed to encourage people to engage with art today, even if they don’t want to…

We are bombarded with advertisements, celebrity endorsements, influencers and ‘community-arts’ projects. Those expensive, yet marginal exercises that speak to no one but their own audience, propped up by the well-intentioned and designed to put across their own cultural or political dogmas, while hoovering up most of the available arts funding, better used to simple make great art.
At best I would describe some of this as little more than a bland celebration of mediocrity intended to portray society as ‘cultured’ without asking it to do anything meaningful, invest or sacrifice, simply consume ‘content’ and walk away. While artists today are forced to produce ‘content’ rather than make art to make ends meet.

The trouble with ‘content’ is that we have little to no relationship with it, it requires nothing of us and we sacrifice nothing for it.

From historical dramas to tentpole fantasy franchises, like Netflix’s: The Witcher or Amazon’s: Rings of Power, though thoughtfully and often beautifully designed, it appears the budget is not going on the wardrobe!

Okay,  perhaps that is not fair, people clearly spend a lot of money on these productions (far too much in fact) but for some reason having made these costumes and meticulously researched every aspect of the production from set to colour grading, have you noticed that no one seems to be interested in adding the patina of time to the costumes in many of these productions!

A wizard or hero travelling across rain sodden landscapes in all weathers on the back of a horse or by foot, alone, for weeks, months or even years at a time, wearing the same clothes on their backs and yet they look brand-new, not to mention the current obsession for everyone to have short haircuts, how, why?

Authenticity is key, what is the motivation, how does this affect you?
 Clothing is an intimate conversation with the self, confidence comes from convincing action, not buying the latest must-have pieces or the trend colours. Though I can see the fun in doing so, it seems a hollow thrill.
 

“I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.”

― Yohji Yamamoto
 

I think it is fair to say we approach clothes differently depending on the typology but I think we can all agree that what we own becomes a second skin, it becomes who we are.

Though I love the feeling of a brand new crisp white shirt direct from the packaging, as it elevates my appearance, making me somehow, more confident to ‘play the game’ of culture, I am likely to pair it with more weathered pieces.

Not because I cannot afford new (though the starving artist is a real thing) but because it has meaning for me. Jackets and coats I wear way past their expiry date and revel in the comfort this musty old shroud, with its worn cuffs and stained hem, brings me. My resoled, scuffed boots and a jumper that has long since lost its lustre (a hole here and there) has a story, one that makes wearing it somehow personal and important to me.

I guess what I am saying to young artists is this.

To be ‘commercial’ is meaningless, there is too much of everything out there. The best we can hope for today is to go on a creative quest and ask others (once you have sacrificed to forge a path you can have pride in) to follow along…

Oh, and get a well-paying second job...

The Art of Falling Apart: Comes from the (1983) album title by synth duo soft cell. 

This album was a revolt against their hit laden first album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981) In their own words, they decided to commit ‘intentional commercial suicide’ in a bid to remain true to their music’s core identity.