The Actual Art Makers

As I read Hal Foster’s article Arty Party, one particular element of these “mega-exhibitions” seemed to be forgotten, I was aware of this as I have often been a part of this disregarded group, the volunteers. I have volunteered at a number of events, this has opened my eyes to the artist’s role, and has altered my perception of the depth of their function. Both Damien Hurst and Marcel Duchamp are referenced in Foster’s article, as advocates of the readymade, their art “is often mocking of high art or mass culture or both”, this led me to make an automatic comparison of Duchamp and Hurst, when thinking about the two artists, one of the many differences that stood out for me was Hurst’s complete absence in relation to the construction and creation of his art works, he completely outsources the entire production of his pieces, there is no longer any facet of the artists touch.

In 2009 I volunteered as part of a team to construct a work by Louisa Bufardeci, entitled Team Joy. I spent many weeks painting 1cm coloured stripes on various sized wooden poles. Each pole represents an international organisation, and each coloured 1cm stripe represents a country involved in that organisation, which equals a large number of painstakingly laborious painting. Throughout this experience, which despite my point I thoroughly enjoyed, I did not see nor meet the artist once. This altered my initial perceptions of the role of artist, and made me question the importance of the presence of the artists touch within a work. Team Joy, would be perceived as an exhaustive work of art created by Bufardeci herself, when in fact it was an exhaustive work of art created by a number of volunteers who wanted to be a part of the realisation of her work.