Photo: BFA
Kanye West’s cultural footprint within the entertainment industry is vast and impactful. From the mysterious (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) to the celebrated (College Dropout) to the confusing (Yeezus) — Kanye Tudda has promoted innovativeness as an art form.
Which is why it is no surprise to see him partnering up with Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen on a new project. The duo debuted a pop-up installation at LACMA, which premiered this past weekend. Blending genres and using art as experimentation, these two award-winning creatives made a short film for “All Day/I Feel Like That”, which are two songs from Kanye West’s as-yet-to-be released studio album.
In a conversation with LACMA’s CEO, Michael Govan, West and McQueen both addressed the bold vulnerability of the video, which plays on the relationship between the camera and the subject. In the piece, those two roles are played by Chicago’s Louis Vuitton Don and the camera. McQueen’s deft visual style places the Roc Nation artist inside an empty room, and for nine minutes, West displays a wide range of emotional and mental stages.
“I think it’s just being a Gemini,” West confessed. “That allowed McQueen to put vulnerability into that kind of scale.” The wall text even notes as much about the installation, as it reads, “As in the meeting between the bull and the matador, it remains unclear who chases whom in the arena. The roles of the pursuer and pursued are at times inverted.” “When you’re dealing with an artist like Kanye, there’s always collaboration,” McQueen admitted.
McQueen and West’s partnership came about after they ran into each other at Dover Street Market in London. “It was amazing we met in an apparel place because that’s one of the genres I’m trying to bed,” West continued, discussing his determination for credibility and acceptance in the fashion world. McQueen helmed a not-so-subtle commentary on West’s life, as if “having binoculars one way and turning them around the other way.” Taking the approach of “the microscope becomes the telescope” — West’s current war of perception is put on full scale and plays itself out in life and as an artist.
“I’m a bad celebrity, but a pretty good artist,” West said of himself.
West’s pursuit of art is unrelenting, which was exceptional, given the LACMA gathering was completely unannounced. Only about 130 people were in attendance, there was no recording of the event allowed, cell phones were confiscated, and attendees were banned from social media. West, who wore an all-white outfit of his own clothes and Bottega Veneta boots, might serve paparazzi bait with his Kardashian wife by his side, but the focus was all about being an actual artist.
Lamenting that there are few actual artists in music left, Kanye said, “I will die for the truth and that’s what’s closest to art. Every time I get in trouble, I’m fighting for truth.”
“All Day/I Feel Like That” runs at LACMA Broad Contemporary Space from July 25-28.
[via Billboard]
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