I recently read an interview with Pope. L, an American visual artist best known for his performance and activist art. In the interview, he was asked if he saw any problem equating art and social activism, and whether he thought the active impulse competed with the art impulse. His answer to the question was interesting — especially in light of another article I recently read in The Atlantic that worried about whether protest art can ever get its mojo back after spending most of the past two years emphasizing impotence and complicity rather than anger and change. Pope. L’s colorful response was:
“Art. Activism. Activism. Art. They aren’t the same, but maybe they should be. I mean, should art improve the quality of people’s lives in a meaningful way? Fuck yeah. Should activism blow our eyes, ears, and minds? Fuckity fuck yeah. So there’s no problem.”
“Art. Activism. Activism. Art. They aren’t the same, but maybe they should be. I mean, should art improve the quality of people’s lives in a meaningful way? Fuck yeah. Should activism blow our eyes, ears, and minds? Fuckity fuck yeah. So there’s no problem.”
No conversation about the A House discography would be complete without including the song “Endless Art” and its female counterpart, “More Endless Art.” “Endless Art” is the quintessential “list song” released as a single in between the band’s second and third records. It features Dave Couse attempting to refute fellow Irishman Oscar Wilde’s claim that “All art is quite useless,” by wading through a seemingly random, but occasionally rhyming casualty list of artists, musicians, and writers. The list is accompanied by nothing more than two chords and a final punctuation from the overture to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The list is an abbreviated one to be sure, but I think that’s exactly the point. If all art is quite useless as Wilde says, how is it that even this short list of a few artists, musicians and writers resonates so deeply with us? So many artists don’t make the list — not because they aren’t worthy, but simply because there isn’t enough time to include them all in a short pop song?
The song met with both critical acclaim and moderate UK chart success (#46), but was vehemently lambasted for being sexist and not including a single woman — despite the band’s tepid, tongue-in-cheek defense that they thought Joan Miró was a woman. Consequently the band returned to the studio and recorded a second version of the song titled “More Endless Art,” where all the dead artists name-checked are women.
Neither version of this single is necessarily A House’s best work, but it really put them on the musical map and provided the perfect prologue to their magnificent third album, I am the Greatest. Art is endless, which is why I chose “Endless Art” and “More Endless Art” for the Happy Medium Song of the Day.
(Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)
Neither version of this single is necessarily A House’s best work, but it really put them on the musical map and provided the perfect prologue to their magnificent third album, I am the Greatest. Art is endless, which is why I chose “Endless Art” and “More Endless Art” for the Happy Medium Song of the Day.
(Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)