Ranking, rating and list-making is as part of the holiday season as goodies and good will. Bright and friendly "The Best Of" lists are standard fare in fashion magazines and fluffy holiday supplements. But thanks to "The Rebel," London's newest fledgling art magazine, there is a dash of spice to cut the season's sugary sentimentality.
The newest baby of the Sartorial Contemporary Art gallery, "The Rebel" is a limited edition publication. For its launch issue, "The Rebel's" founding editors, Athens-born Gretta Sarfaty Marchant and English artists Jasper Joffe and Harry Pye, have compiled such pertinent stats as "23 Artists Tell Us About Their Social Class" and "The Art World's 50 Least Important People." The latter list ranges from Julian Opie, who clocks in at number 50 despite his massive market influence, and closes with ArtReview reviews editor and freelance curator J.J. Charlesworth.
Around the time of 'The Rebel's' launch, we parsed the meaning of power in emails with its founders.
AFH: At first the issue about class seems very English. Is the English art world really classist these days?
HP: The art world in England got changed a tiny bit by Hirst and co a few years back. The main difference for artists like Jasper and myself is that we could put on shows in squats, community centres and old shops and we would still get good press, 500 people at the private view and a visit from a serious art collector. This wasn't the case in the late 70's. Artists like Peter Doig, for example, waited a long time till they got a solo show. I think that Hirst and Emin deserve credit for that change. And, in a way, things have become more fair because artists today don't need as much financial help to get their work seen. A myspace page costs nothing and you can go down the do-it-yourself route without being seen as a complete loony. The English are obsessed with class. I've noticed that in America if they re-make a sitcom that features a cockney or south London wide boy they'll make the character black. I think that in America it's less about class and more about colour, and Afro Americans or Mexicans are seen as the under dogs.
JJ: I think class is the elephant in the room, everyone is aware of it, but no one likes to mention it. Non-English people always deny it exists in their country (which I would also question). The minute someone opens their mouth here, you immediately place them within the class system, so no one really ever has to ask what class you are. When you do ask, as I did with the 23 artists in 'Notting Heaven' (the show associated with the magazine) it's almost an offensive question, or people question your motives for asking it. So I think English people are completely and utterly stuck with ideas of class, and therefore of course every aspect of society is affected by it, including the art world. Art dealers are generally posh, and artists cheeky chappies or chapettes pretending they're not totally middle class. And collectors of course are often nouveau riche. Because it's so hard to make a living as an artist, most artists are closet middle class. I could go and on, it's like we've opened the class closet and a herd of elephants are running out.
AFH: Who has an easier time - affluent, Oxford-educated genius Conrad Shawcross, or Richard Billingham, whose art started out being about his chav childhood, or an artist with a rougher accent and rougher work?
JJ: I know Conrad a bit (we both went to wonderful old Ruskin) and I met Billingham once at the British School at Rome. From these connections you could argue neither has had it too tough. But who knows? I always love those studies which show that lottery winners return to their previous happiness levels a few years after their wins. Money doesn't buy you happiness blah blah blah but it's better to be rich and miserable than poor and miserable. I guess you're much more likely to see Conrad in the party pictures of a fashion mag (in fact he seems to be in the paper every week) than Billingham, but maybe that's just a lifestyle choice. I don't think it holds you back being from a poor background once you get on the big stage, but the terrible school you go to in England if you live in a crappy area definitely doesn't help you get anywhere. So finally reaching a conclusion, I would say that the apartheid education system in England (poor go to random often terrible comprehensives, well-off send their kids to choice of fee paying schools of decent standard) means that Billingham in all likelihood had to fight harder to be where he is today, and maybe that means there is more pressure on him. This perhaps answers a question you didn't ask.
HP: I was in the same pub as Richard Billingham on the night he didn't win the Turner Prize. He was as white as a ghost and made about 6 trips to the toilet. This was about an hour before everyone actually went in and the winner was announced. The other three nominees were vaguely nervous - who wouldn't be? But Billingham looked like he was in hell. Morrissey often quotes a story about Kurt Douglas saying he was always waiting for someone to tap him on the shoulder and tell him to go home. Do you remember when Michael Caine finally got a big award? - he said he'd always been made to feel a stranger in his own country and had never been taken seriously. I believe that a lot of working class people who've done well would relate to this idea that no matter how many awards, backslaps and money they get, there will always be a part of them that believes they're inferior.
GSM: Ha ha. It took me seven years to settle. I used to hate this country and now I love it. But, the real reason I hated it was because I was isolated. And, in retrospect I now see that I tried too hard to be accepted. The more I was myself the more I fitted in. Now I feel like I have nothing to hide and I love it here. I love the British sense of humour and I'm fascinated by the way they get hung up on things like class."
AFA: Was the project where you painted and interviewed 50 prominent people in Brazil an influence for the 50 least important art-world people list?
GSM: Not at all. I loved doing the Self Portrait of Brazil project. In December 08 I am having a special solo show of old and new work and I'm planning to make a new work which will be a portrait of Leeds. I'm very excited about the show and finding out about the North of England. I love the film, 'The Full Monty', so maybe I will visit Sheffield too.
AFH: How did the process differentiate between the 'most' and 'least' important? More than a few of your "50 least" are other list-makers' "5 most." How did Julian Opie get on there? He hits high auction records and gets golden commissions. One could argue that his stuff isn't changing or challenging anything really important, but he's certainly not starving or being ignored.
GSM: Yes, it's true that some artists on the list make a lot of money. I don't see that as enough. I don't think money alone can make your work important or influential.
JJ: The idea of people being the "50 least important" is absurd. That's what I like about it. After events like the Frieze art fair with their vips, vvips, and vvvips it seems quite challenging to not be important. What is importance? I suppose that's what the list asks. It's like it might be a good thing to be on a list, any list, even if it's one of non-importance. An artist might announce proudly: "I am one of the top ten least important people in the art world." And you would have to think for a moment what that meant, and what kind of honour it was.
AFH: Are you just saying that these 50 are being too pushy? Are you just telling them to chill out?
JJ: No I don't think people should chill out, I think they should warm up, really get much hotter and steamed up about all sorts of stuff: politics, revolution, feminism, communism, the environment, inequality, America's next top model. You name it, we need more anger.
AFH: 'Least important' seems catty. What about 'annoying as fuck'?
JJ: Moi? Catty?
AFH: Why would Matthew Collings add himself to an issue on the '50 Least Important People in the Art World'?
JJ: Well, because I asked him, and he is a nice guy. All the contributors, as is normal, didn't know what the other articles were going to be about, just that the theme was class.
HP: The art Mr Collings loves and is inspired by isn't the same art he made his name talking about. For some reason he was the right guy at the right time and his books about Hirst & Emin like 'BLIMEY' became best sellers but those aren't the artists he loves. I would imagine his own paintings are what's most important to him but he is incredibly modest about talking about them. He seems quite sensitive to me. He's not on the list probably because he is more important than he realises. I thought Matthew's contribution to 'Rebel' was very honest and quite moving. I think it will surprise a few people. We are very lucky to have people like Matthew willing to be guest contributors.
AFH: Are you going to have similiar people contribute in the future?
JJ: I wonder if we have made this issue too good, and how hard it will be to keep up this level. This issue has got a lot of great words in it, I think future issues will be more visual, and so we should be able to dig up some really good artists to draw pictures for them. The next one is about Sex (we only have big issues!) and we'd welcome any suggestions for good writers about sex.
AFH: What makes a good guest contributor?
JJ: Someone who replies to emails promptly.
AFH: Who are your ideal readers?
HP: Last night I was talking with my flatmate who is a comedian called Tom Bell about newspapers. We agreed that one's choice of newspaper is more of a give away about class than anything else. The Mail is over-confident and angry, obsessed with people coming over here and how something needs to be done. The Sun targets this van-driving reader who wants to look at some tits while he's having a cuppa. Whereas the Guardian is for middle class people who want something to worry about - is your home in the wrong catchment area and have you bought the wrong humus? The Rebel will appeal to people who read the Independent. Gretta, Jasper and myself read it every day.
AFH: Who are 'The Independent' readers?
JJ: Harry got you mixed up with a journalist from the Independent, so we were trying to suck up. I read the Daily Telegraph, because it's the only one that still comes in a big format. It's also good for annoying people because they can't believe you're reading such a right wing paper.
AFH: I only read the FT. And only on weekends. Otherwise, I read 'The New York Times' online, read the New Yorker religiously and sometimes 'The Economist.' Plus I watch the Daily Show daily for my news. I
write for the Guardian Unlimited even my editors know that I never read it. Besides 'you're an American,' what does that say about me?
JJ: I love the New Yorker too, and have to read every word in it, even the ballet reviews. The Economist and FT only on weekends make me think you've got some investments, or know someone who does, perhaps you studied economics. I'd say you're middle upper middle middle class liberal by your choice of media.
AFH: I was engaged to a banker. I consider a love of the FT to be my intellectual alimony from that break-up. Besides that, good call on the rest. All this aside, do you think the art -world generally takes
itself too seriously?
JJ: The big league art world is about big money, and everyone takes money seriously, as it the only way of measuring success.
HP: In the same way that Johnny Cash, The Beatles and The Kinks all made novelty records when they felt like it. All the best artists have a decent sense of humour. However, there is a lot of fear in England that if an artist makes a joke in his or her work then somehow it's proof that it's all a big con. The truth is there's many a true word spoken in jest. The Rebel isn't a comic like VIZ but we do have a sense of humour.
The first issue of The Rebel is still available at £2.00 plus postage. The magazine is published in a limited edition of 1000 and its first issue features:
* The Artworld's 50 Least Important People
* Matthew Collings on where he comes from
* George Galloway on why he is more working class than Ken Livingstone
* 23 Artists tell us about their social class
Click here to find out more about The Rebel and to order a copy.
ANA FINEL HONIGMAN is a critic, PhD candidate in art history at Oxford University and Senior London Correspondent for the Saatchi Gallery's online magazine. She is Art Editor of Alef (alefmag.com/) and contributes regularly to such publications as Style.com, Grazia, Tank, Sleek and Harper's Bazaar.
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