The uniqueness of hip-hop, rap, and their associated dance styles can be traced back to their foundations in The Bronx of the 1970's, and other mostly African-American enclaves in cities throughout the United States. Whereas the media of the artworks presented in the video are sculptures and oils, the media of the performers are hip-hop and dance. In the case of The Carters, the hallowed halls of the Louvre and the paintings within it become not a sales pitch, but rather a backdrop for an effective performance about culture and race that undermines traditional assumptions about art, the vagueries of high versus low culture, and the institutions that broker mass interpretations of these topics. Celebrities and luxury brands regularly utilize blue chip artists in their own projects both to establish their cultural bona fides and also to raise the cachet of their own brands. Louis Vuitton created a line of bags designed with Jeff Koons that feature paintings by Rubens, Monet, and others. John Currin was commissioned to paint a portrait of Jennifer Lawrence for the cover of Vogue's 125th Anniversary Issue in 2017. George Clooney was styled by the Japanese conceptual artist Yayoi Kusama for a W Magazine spread in 2013. The painter Will Cotton was the artistic director for Katy Perry's California Gurls music video in 2010. Other celebrities, too, have engaged with the art world. And The Carters, like The Mona Lisa, are celebrities with far reaching influence. In both scenes they are compared directly to their painted co-star. The scene is also a reference to their viral photo shoot at the Museum in 2014, in which they also took a photo alongside Da Vinci's most famous painting. They are presented one-to-one with the best known portrait in Western Art, equaling it in regality. Jay-Z wears a pale teal suit with a gold medallion, Beyoncé is in a pink silk smoking jacket, richly accessorized with diamonds. In the next scene Beyoncé and Jay-Z are pictured dramatically standing alongside La Jaconde, The Mona Lisa. It then transitions inside the museum with lavishly gilt interiors appropriate to a former palace and details of fine European paintings. The video opens with a cinematic shot of a black figure with angel wings standing guard outside the Louvre by night bells chiming in the distance. It takes part in an ongoing tradition of celebrities engaging with high art, it places the uniquely American art form of rap on the same level with European masterpieces, and it corrects the lack of diversity that is often taken for granted in cultural institutions, not only in the Old World, but in the New as well. The Apeshit video is stunningly styled, choreographed, and filmed. It features Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the empty Louvre Museum perhaps the greatest bastion of so-called "high culture", and also the center of the predominantly white and male tradition of Western Art. The new video, shared with unwitting fans via Instagram on Saturday afternoon, has over seven million views as of this writing (a little more than 24 hours after release). The video was filmed entirely at the Louvre and was directed by Ricky Saiz, who previously collaborated with Beyoncé on the video for her track Yoncé. The first music video for the album accompanies the single Apeshit and was released under the duo's co-moniker The Carters. On Saturday, Beyoncé and Jay-Z released a surprise new album, Everything is Love, on Tidal the streaming service they co-own.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |