ART AND HIERACHIES

I hate hierarchies. I just do. I'm not against leadership or the need to specialise in certain roles, but my firm belief is that we fetishise hierarchies. For some strange reason we are constantly trying to arrange ourselves in ranking order. I may not be as good, clever or good-looking as that person, but I am certainly better than that one over there. It seems to be a western trait.

I guess that is not surprising because we live under capitalism which is completely about class and dividing people up into groups. Furthermore, capitalism has created a system in which competition is seen to be an appropriate way of organising life. Not only do we compete in the sports arena, but we choose to add a red in tooth and claw dimension to other things too. For example, we compete for educational places and jobs and commercial goods and services.

This then justifies inequality. You got that job or course because you were the best. Everything is fair and above board. Except that we ALL know it isn't. The deck is stacked from the beginning. People who can afford to send their kids to the best schools and colleges buy them a massive head start. And let's be honest, if it didn't make a difference they wouldn't pay so richly for it. All the discourse about meritocracy is nonsense. Can people escape from the lower echelons of society to attain the best positions and fame and wealth? Of course, but they are MASSIVE exceptions and they are then used to justify the whole corrupt process.

And sadly, the same ridiculous notions apply in the art world. People are judged and ordered by the materials they use, the media they use and whether they are trained or untrained. Not only that, but like everything else, people are assessed and ordered according to WHERE they were trained. It really is endless.

And that, as far as I'm concerned, is totally nonsensical.

The best art and artists have been anti-establishment. They have tried to break down structures and hierarchies. Whole schools have been created to challenge the existing order.

Art is subjective. In the end, people like what they like. If you are an elitist and you only like certain oil painters who were trained in specific institutions, but at the end of civilisation you get stuck on a desert island with a bunch of watercolourists from somewhere else, the socially constructed hierarchy will count for nothing. And... It counts for nothing anyway.

Do what you do. Enjoy what you enjoy and let the critics take the hindermost.