Artistic Statements

On October 28, Scott Campbell opened the doors of his much-anticipated solo exhibition at the Vice Gallery in Mexico City. Opening night was sold-out, and many thought that would be a major point of achievement under his belt and the end of the story, but the events that later unfolded would prove otherwise. In an email, he recounted his side of the story to Olivier Zahm of Purple Fashion Magazine. Having some concerns with regards to the management and execution of the show, he attempted to voice them and propose some changes to the gallery owner, but those words were not taken seriously. You could attribute it to his recent progression to fine art from the somewhat more volatile and aggressive New York City tattoo community, but he  took what action he thought would feel best and most clearly transmit his message. He took his works into the street in front of the gallery and turned them to ash. According to Campbell, "it felt amazing".

Though I can't decide whether I think it falls into the category of maintaining artistic integrity or that of publicity stunts, I do favor the former, and, in either case, it attests to the beauty of artistic statements. When artists do what feels best, seemingly regardless of cost and consequence, it draws admiration. I cannot help but respect him for not allowing those who pay his bills to overpower and dictate his artistic direction. Whether it was or wasn't a publicity stunt, it definitely fired up the presses. However, since, on top of Campbell appearing to remain self-managed, I cannot think of any reason the gallery owners would want to be seen as disrespectful to their artists and lose a popular show in its first week, I'd have to favor putting this in the category of artistic statements and preservation of integrity and vision.

Other than reiterating the story, expressing my approval of his actions and feeding him what little more attention I can, I don't have much else to say. As such, let me cut it here and provide links (below) to Purple Boutique and Slam X Hype, the sources of my information.

Links:
Purple Boutique: Scott Campbell E-Mail
Slam X Hype: Story