Overkilling The Icons
About three weeks ago, Mrs. Connoisseur and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary with a weekend trip to Pittsburgh. A highlight was a visit to the Andy Warhol museum.
The Warhol is a surprizingly low-key affair that brings out the best in the artist's work. His visual pieces were often of such a grand scale that they need to be seen in person to be completely appreciated. Never have his portraits of soup cans, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, nor silkscreened facsimilies of grocery product boxes looked so good.
Mrs. Connoisseur made an observation that got me thinking. She pointed out that Warhol's work is so iconic that it has become overkilled in the mass media. It is easy to become desensitized and to take it for granted, forgetting it's true greatness.
This triggered a thought process that made me understand the concept of Iconic Overkill. Works of popular art are recognized as great by the general public and are then seen so frequently that they start to seem run-of-the mill and uninteresting.
I can think of other pieces of "Termite Art" that strike me this same way. In my heart, I know they are great, but often pass them by as too common and ordinary.
1. The Beatles 1967-1970: As a lifetime Beatles fan, I have experienced a rather rocky love affair with the band's latter-period work. Around 1980 (but before Lennon was murdered) I started to find the sound of the post-Pepper Beatles stale and tired. This had nothing to do with the undisputable greatness of the music, but everything to do with media overkill. Album Oriented Rock radio and the rock press were constantly putting the last three years of The Fabs in our faces, often at the expense of ignoring their earlier and equally meritous work. It also did not help that the overall style of "The White Album" and "Abbey Road" had been so incorporated into mainstream arena and "corporate" rock, that they seemed absolutely run-of-the-mill and commonplace by the dawn of the eighties.
2. 1955-1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and Ford Thunderbird: Absolutely beautiful American cars that deserve every bit of love and affection of auto enthusiasts. So coveted and revered as icons that they seem far less interesting now than less attractive cars of the era, such as Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, and Rambler. Innovative engineering and good looks made the Ford and General Motors products stand the test of time. The same cannot be said of the other makes.
3. Motown, 1960-1970: Held in such high regard by Baby Boomers that classic songs by The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, et. al. seem ubiquitous even on the most inoffesive Adult Contemporary stations. By the early nineties, classic Motown seemed as safe as Disney products and not the innovative pop and soul recordings they truly are.
4. Fender and Gibson guitars: Fender and Gibson are proof that a good design with solid engineering and beautiful aesthetics are timeless. Even more important was that both makers got their designs right the first time around, when the technology was still primitive and an unknown frontier. Who doesn't love the look and sound of a Telecaster, Les Paul, Stratocaster or SG? Sadly, when attending a guitar show, a plethora of Gibsons and Fenders seems disappointing to the vintage collector. Flashy but inferior makes like Mosrite, Vox, and Danelectro seem much more interesting in this context, but far less likely to last a lifetime with consistently satisfying results.
5. Marilyn Monroe: The woman formerly known as Norma Jean Baker was the epitome of "die young, stay pretty." Her image has been splashed all over our popular culture so much that it is easy to forget that she was an underrated and horribly misused actress. While she finally got to shine in her last completed film, "The Misfits," evidence of her genuine talent could be seen in lightweight work like "How To Marry A Millionaire." Even in insipid romantic comedies, Marilyn Monroe could imbue each and every character with unique mannerism and tics that made each one unique. That is truly solid acting.
Surely, the rest of us can think of other examples where Iconic Overkill has desensitized us to the greatness of an artist or work and caused us to take them for granted--cheating ourselves out of much pleasure and enjoyment.
The Warhol is a surprizingly low-key affair that brings out the best in the artist's work. His visual pieces were often of such a grand scale that they need to be seen in person to be completely appreciated. Never have his portraits of soup cans, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, nor silkscreened facsimilies of grocery product boxes looked so good.
Mrs. Connoisseur made an observation that got me thinking. She pointed out that Warhol's work is so iconic that it has become overkilled in the mass media. It is easy to become desensitized and to take it for granted, forgetting it's true greatness.
This triggered a thought process that made me understand the concept of Iconic Overkill. Works of popular art are recognized as great by the general public and are then seen so frequently that they start to seem run-of-the mill and uninteresting.
I can think of other pieces of "Termite Art" that strike me this same way. In my heart, I know they are great, but often pass them by as too common and ordinary.
1. The Beatles 1967-1970: As a lifetime Beatles fan, I have experienced a rather rocky love affair with the band's latter-period work. Around 1980 (but before Lennon was murdered) I started to find the sound of the post-Pepper Beatles stale and tired. This had nothing to do with the undisputable greatness of the music, but everything to do with media overkill. Album Oriented Rock radio and the rock press were constantly putting the last three years of The Fabs in our faces, often at the expense of ignoring their earlier and equally meritous work. It also did not help that the overall style of "The White Album" and "Abbey Road" had been so incorporated into mainstream arena and "corporate" rock, that they seemed absolutely run-of-the-mill and commonplace by the dawn of the eighties.
2. 1955-1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and Ford Thunderbird: Absolutely beautiful American cars that deserve every bit of love and affection of auto enthusiasts. So coveted and revered as icons that they seem far less interesting now than less attractive cars of the era, such as Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, and Rambler. Innovative engineering and good looks made the Ford and General Motors products stand the test of time. The same cannot be said of the other makes.
3. Motown, 1960-1970: Held in such high regard by Baby Boomers that classic songs by The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, et. al. seem ubiquitous even on the most inoffesive Adult Contemporary stations. By the early nineties, classic Motown seemed as safe as Disney products and not the innovative pop and soul recordings they truly are.
4. Fender and Gibson guitars: Fender and Gibson are proof that a good design with solid engineering and beautiful aesthetics are timeless. Even more important was that both makers got their designs right the first time around, when the technology was still primitive and an unknown frontier. Who doesn't love the look and sound of a Telecaster, Les Paul, Stratocaster or SG? Sadly, when attending a guitar show, a plethora of Gibsons and Fenders seems disappointing to the vintage collector. Flashy but inferior makes like Mosrite, Vox, and Danelectro seem much more interesting in this context, but far less likely to last a lifetime with consistently satisfying results.
5. Marilyn Monroe: The woman formerly known as Norma Jean Baker was the epitome of "die young, stay pretty." Her image has been splashed all over our popular culture so much that it is easy to forget that she was an underrated and horribly misused actress. While she finally got to shine in her last completed film, "The Misfits," evidence of her genuine talent could be seen in lightweight work like "How To Marry A Millionaire." Even in insipid romantic comedies, Marilyn Monroe could imbue each and every character with unique mannerism and tics that made each one unique. That is truly solid acting.
Surely, the rest of us can think of other examples where Iconic Overkill has desensitized us to the greatness of an artist or work and caused us to take them for granted--cheating ourselves out of much pleasure and enjoyment.
posted by Trash Culture Connoisseur at 10:23 AM
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