Artist, 2000
Betacam numérique PAL, couleur, son
This video by Tracey Moffat, produced in collaboration with Gary Hillberg, is a montage of extracts of television shows and movies whose subject is the artist at work, at the heart of their creative process. Rather than offering a discourse on the social condition of artists throughout history, Tracey Moffatt chooses to show how they have been perceived for decades in movies and the media. The artist thus uses existing images, which she subverts in an ironic way in order to propose a deciphering of the image of artists that audiovisual productions reflect. The sources are wide and varied; the video explores the great classics of cinema, B series and the most popular television shows. Thus an extract of Batman by Tim Burton shows the Joker vandalising masterpieces by Rembrandt and Degas. Artist traverses several years of creation, to reveal how the media has created a stereotypical and crude image of artists. It presents society's more or less deformed and humorous view of artists today.
The very lively music chosen by the artist derisively highlights the fervour and passion that is associated with artists who are exalted by their work. The same gestures – clichés – recur often, the touch of a paintbrush, nervous and frustrated laughter, the artist's violent destruction of their work in the face of their dissatisfaction. The initial stirrings of creative power and inspiration are gradually transformed into frustration and deception, provoking the artist to destroy their work. This montage draws an incisive and stereotypical portrait of the artist as perceived by the Hollywood industry, which depicts the artist as mad, dilettante or even as a social reprobate.
Priscilia Marques