Are artists now just brand names?

Question

To clarify what I mean, let me direct you towards Damien Hirst and that pop art chick who i can't remember the name of. Damien Hirst now only directs his assistants to create the work for him, yet still sells it as his own. The pop art chick, while she used to create the images herself, now only gives computer codes to computer guys so that the images is generated for her. It seems to me that the artist is now a redundant figure in terms of hands on work at least. Doesn't this suggest that fine art is becoming design? Saying this, Leonardo Da Vinci also had little scampering boy apprentices to paint for him, but he had so much else on his plate, yknow? And all Damien Hirst does is sit in his cottage in Devon and eat clotted cream.

Answer 1

You're right, I think, when you say that this art is design. It is art as product, art as brand.

The redeeming truth is MOST art isn't made this debased way. (Sorry to sound prudish there.) Most art is made by one man or woman alone, banging away with their unique sensibility and their tools and materials. Which is as it should be.

Answer 2

Pop art chick...Niagra?
Artists, at least established ones, have been using assistants for hundreds of years.
As for 'computer codes to computer guys'...are you referring to digital scanning, and making reproductions from that? (perhaps Giclee's) For any artist who's trying to make a living... art prints, regardless of medium, are a way to make some decent coin from one piece....rather than painting the same thing again and again.
Fine art has always had a hand in with 'design'. Lines get blurry when defining one or the other sometimes.
But NO, I wouldn't say an artist is redundant for hands on work...I think you're missing the point that these artists worked their butts off getting to where they are...and once 'established' use what means they can to sustain a living.
I don't think I would ever become comfortable letting someone else paint FOR me, and panning it off as my own. That's just me. But having prints done, I have no problem with that.

Answer 3

I am a one woman show when it comes to my scupture and canvases- have been for 30 years. The only time I used assistants is to help with the physical part- say the 40 foot mural I am doing next week- for fill-in and taping and such. My canvases of exotic and endangered wildlife are my own! My name wouldn't be on it otherwise- though I do sell posters of my work- but that, like other things, is a product. Many, many artists are ARTISTS , but like musicians, not all those who are good ones are seen by the public or get the big contracts. And, yes, its my full time real job! ;0)

Answer 4

We should be honoring the art, not the artist. In too many cases, we deify the producer while accepting without assessing the output. Collectors have been known to plop down payment for the next yet-to-be-produced artwork but that kind of speculative investment is tantamount to big business sports where millions are wasted on a player all too often who fails to perform.