Zack Zoll wrote:
I've seen a lot of Weiwei's work (not n person, I'm afraid) , and have made an honest attempt to understand it and him. But I don't have a great sense of conceptual art, and it's hard for me to tell the difference between bullshit and acclaimed work.

Which if you read between the lines, can probably be taken to be my impression of Weiwei.

That said, when guys like this come around, it serves as a lesson for how the art market works. Despite the insistence on this site that the cream will always rise to the top, that's not how it works. Not usually, at any rate. It's about being in the right place at the right time, or riling people up just the right way, or having a tragic/romantic/unbelievable backstory as an artist.

I want to stress, as an artist ... Photos of paralympic athletes will never get as much traction as those same photos made by a paralympic athlete. An interesting story might get you success in that one image, but to spin that into a career you need to have that same air about yourself.

As far as tech skills and rising cream, you just need to not suck. Or, you need to suck so badly that it looks like you're doing it on purpose. When it comes to technical skills, the presentation (or the print, for photographers) is imperative; everything leading up to that point is not.

On the on hand, some of the stuff like giving everything the finger is stupid and juvenile, and doesn't express anything other than anger and rebellion in the lowest common denominator. On the other hand, when you're speaking out against a powerful association, that's often all they understand - subtlety and intelligent points go right over the their head and get ignored. Think about some of the most controversial art: Trump's head, Charlie Hebdo, Piss Christ ... Almost none of it actually makes a logical, defensible point (which does have he advantage of also not being assailable) , nor does it undermine the subject in any tangible way.

What does Piss Christ say? Not what's said ABOUT it ... What does the actual piece say? That Jesus, and by extension Christianity is unclean? Big fucking deal - that's literally the entire foundation of Christianity: that all human beings (even Jesus) are unclean sinners. That piece doesn't make a single point that undermines Christianity in the least; all of that stuff is added after the fact.

But it gains traction because it states in no uncertain terms "fuck Christianity." Nothing more than that, but it's simple enough that we all get it.

I don't think there are too many parallel universes where Weiwei is equally successful. I think if you change his circumstances just a little bit, his work becomes indistinguishable from that of a petulant, angry teenager, farming out his homework.

But that doesn't really matter, nor does it matter when similar criticism is made of other artists, or of the art world itself. We're not in other universes - we're in this one.

well said...I WILL say that TRUE artists...artists whose work is consistently great and who have a penchant for always being in the right place at the right time will maintain a long term reputation for great work. The shock value artists whose work sucks might garner attention in a 15 minutes of fame, however they usually fizzle out.