John Armleder

Essay Response

John Armleder’s art never looks quite like itself. He produces works that can be categorized by multiple types of modern movements. He incorporates others’ works into his ideas and makes them his own. Aermleder likes the fact that people see his artwork in such a varied way. He certainly does not dwell on it, nor does he worry about what other people think of his art, because even he doesn’t know quite what he thinks of it either. It changes over time and he’s never believed that what he thinks about his own work has anything to do with the work itself. Whether the actual artist himself, or an outside viewer, each person will have their own subjective opinion about each different piece of art that they see, so worrying about each person’s thought is a meaningless way to spend time. He claims that successful art will depend on its capacity to co-op an existing situation and to have it be co-oped in return. He is happy to see people recreate his work for their own use.
Armleder has been criticized for his sometimes “generic” ideas, through what he represents as geometric forms and flat colors. He claims that if an artwork were completely generic, it wouldn’t exist at all. But if you’re planning to make art with some pre-conceived idea, you are going to have to align yourself with some sort of precedent, so you will in fact be constrained to some degree. But if a work seems familiar and unsatisfying to the viewer in being easily registered from the start, then it would be pointless to make and consequently, very boring. In trying to expand art and come up with new visual experiences, Armleder finds challenges at times in expressing that it sometimes feels like everything has been done. He realizes that it’s okay to make works that look like things that have been done before. If you enjoy that type of art, then that is enough of a reason to keep creating them. To summarize: if you see something you like, expand it and make it your own.
At one point in the interview, the term “pseudointelligent” is used as a way of making art. “Pseudo” can be described as not genuine, or something that is trying and failing to be smart. It relates to Armleder’s example of dumping ready-made objects in a room as if they’re meant to be thrown out. Ideas like this lack sophistication, according to Armleder, so he pushes his work to a higher level of academic premise. But interviewer Fabrice Stroun points out that while a show of Armleder’s at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris had simpler works, while a recent exhibitions at Caratch was pushed to the point of absurdity. Armleder compares this thought to the fact that Fluxus artists were not opposed to having their works come off as a joke or something that deserved veneration. He feels that if you view something as completely serious or completely ironic, you’re missing it altogether. I think of Jeff Koons’ art in relation to this theory and I disagree. Koons aims to actually make fun of people through his work by confusing them at a first glance. I think it’s an interesting way of trying to get through to people but I don’t necessarily think it makes great visual art. I like art that gives me a certain feeling through colors and space. But if it confuses me, I just get frustrated because I do not grasp the concept. There is not always a plaque next to the work that explains its meaning. So if a piece of art does not mean something to the viewer, they might just lose interest of finding out what it means if anything at all.
After reading about Armleder for the first time, I kept comparing to other artists. I think it is peculiar that he doesn’t just stick to one type of style, and in a way I find that problematic. It seems like he is just all over the place and I wish he would stick to something that helps him to really make a name for himself. I gather from the article that he seems to just take other artists’ ideas and “piggy-back” off of their ideas. To be as big of an artist as he seems to wish, I think he should stick with one thing and really push it to the next level. That way, people can start recognizing his work overall and he will have the same people coming back to see it again and again to revisit his style of art. If it’s always different then people may have a lukewarm attitude towards him overall because he may succeed sometimes while other times he may not.