Here is a curious film about the very larger than life Julian Schnabel, the contemporary American artist. (link http://bcove.me/5igmdm3n)
Regardless of what people think, (and it is a very diverse landscape of opinion) he is certainly a prolific artist who has created a successful career for himself. Despite that he irritates so many, perhaps by his success and hubris, he is nonetheless, an American artist with Brobdingnagian proportions. And because Americans generally have big imaginations, they usually make big things with them and their success is over-the-top as well. Alas, hype is both the fat and gristle for success in the US today.
This nation is still pushed and pulled by the notion of Manifest Destiny, and in the art world it is no different. Culturally speaking, across the board, everything has turned muscular.
In America, museums and galleries are now monuments to the large scale and ambitions reflecting large egos.
So, Schnabel fits in. In fact, he is an incarnation of that Manifest Destiny in the American Art world of today. He is a worker, ceaselessly pushing the boundaries of his materials. He seems to have modelled himself after Picasso in many respects. Why not? Picasso was a clever entrepreneur he brought Madison Avenue into the art studio.
Whether I 'like' or 'dislike' their work is almost beside the point. Success breeds success in this new media-driven world. In any event, this is a lovely little film.
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