EPPH - Every Painter Paints Himself

Steve Martin’s Artworld Fiasco

People may have more schooling nowadays but they seem no more educated. According to the New York Times, Steve Martin was at the 92^nd Street Y in Manhattan this week to talk about his latest novel on the artworld and there was a large audience of around 900 people. The Y  is a well-known place for such cultural events so the crowd was supposedly educated. Half-way through, though, the interviewer was handed a note from the Y’s management telling her to ask more about Martin’s work in Hollywood and less about art, the subject of his book. The next day the Y offered $50 refunds to all ticket-holders and put out a press release saying that “last night’s event with Steve Martin did not meet the standards of excellence that you have come to expect from the Y.” 

The interviewer rightly responded: “Frankly, you would think that an audience in New York, at the 92^nd Street Y, would be interested in hearing about art and artists....I had no idea that the Y programmers wanted me to ask Steve about what it’s like to host the Oscars…I think the Y has behaved very crassly and is reinforcing the most philistine aspects of a culture that values celebrity and award shows over art.”

It got me thinking that there must be two types of art lovers: those that love art for its visual poetry (the users of this website, for instance) and those that like other people thinking they like art but really have no interest at all. The Y, therefore, was not mistaken in apologizing; they just know their audience well.