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The Break from Tradition: How Contemporary Art Redefines the Artist's Role

Historically it was considered that the artist's role in their art ended with the completion of their work. Artists were defined by their technical ability, and it was this high level of technique and preference for their artistic style (usually of high realism) that drove their careers and gained them popularity. With the turn of the enlightenment and the subsequent emphasis on humans as individuals the Artist was no longer bound by technicality. Following the 18th Century then the Artist's role has been evolutionary and polymorphic in nature. Artists have since been able to make a living not just through exemplifying the worth of their skill but the worth of their intellect and the weight of their emotion. creatives are no longer passive producers of art but active participants in their art.


It could be argued that there is no longer a separation between art and the artist as the socio-political influences of the artist are inseparable from their art's form. Every material, practical and thematic choice represents an artist’s emotional state, political position, and social experience. This has come to define contemporary art's existence with Artist's now using their role to actively engage conversations surrounding contemporary lived experience, society, identity, and politics.

Like many Art students in southern England, I find myself in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall once or twice a year. Usually, I'm bustling around with lecturers or my fellow students as we make a stop on a packed gallery visit day to see whatever new, exciting exhibition has opened before marching on to the next gallery. Point being, I rarely find myself in the Turbine Hall with time to stop and stare. On my last visit however, in between Electric Dreams and Anthony McCall: Solid light we found ourselves stood still on the entry level bridge (the weird level of Tate Modern that isn't quite ground level and isn't quite first floor) watching Mire Lee's installation Open Wound. I'd seen it before, I'd looked at it and thought "Huh pretty gross, pretty cool", I'd then taken a few well angled photos of it to post on my Instagram (to keep up the image that I'm a culturally-engaged-twenty-something-year-old) and then carried on about my day.


I had never taken the time to actually see Open Wound for what it is. However, stood on the bridge that day, arms pressed against the railing, a little tired and a little hungry watching the central turbine slowly rotate, the organ-like-strands attached to it being wound up and suddenly spat out - I was hit by the guts of it all. The tired action of the motor lugging these flesh-like masses around, dripping sweat on the rusted metal beneath it felt quite oddly human. Reading the exhibition brochure, we learn that Lee is speaking to the complex history of industrialisation, hybridity between human and machine and the 'emotional incoherency' (Lee's own description) of daily life. This all makes sense with Lee's material choice: the skins of silicone and fabrics, the rusty metal machinery, the liquid produced by this machine all convey this without having even read the brochure. Most notably this all resonates with the audience. In an age where technology is on the rise and the blur between humanity and machinery becomes more severe, I really felt for this poor groaning beast strung up between the turbine hall's beams. Mayhap we are all the Open Wound, strung between the increasingly demanding work culture and expectations of societal performance and conformance. Introspection aside, Mire Lee exemplifies the position of the contemporary Artist's role through reflection of personal and collective mundanity.


Hyundai Commission: Mire Lee: Open Wound, Installation View. Photo © Tate (Lucy Green)
Hyundai Commission: Mire Lee: Open Wound, Installation View. Photo © Tate (Lucy Green)


A poorly angled video I took when I was having a moment of empathy for the turbine.

Something that I often find striking about contemporary artworks is the honesty of it all. Artists were historically duty-bound with increasing the beauty of the natural world and their subjects appealing to a higher, utopian depiction of society. In the photo-technological age of the 21st century this is no longer tied to purely artistic pursuits. Pursuits of beauty can now be cast in a few, quick , well edited, Instagram posts just as easily a masterful painting. So, if artists are no longer licenced beauticians, what is left for them to pursue ? Well, in contrary to popular history the ugly, the mundane and the downright weird. Artists of the 21st century are fully free in their roles as visual-interpreters of society to say, do and make whatever they damn-well want.


This freedom of honesty in the contemporary Artist's role has led to mass questioning from the general public of what are even is . Discourse around what 'art' is, its' form. its' content and its' purpose are so rampant that Artist's themselves are now using art as a vehicle for its' own introspection. A work that repeatedly wins every time this discussion is raised is Maurizio Cattelan's, 2019, sculptural installation Comedian. Debuted at Art Basel's Miami Beach fair comedian features a literal banana, duct taped to a wall. That's it. - that's the whole artwork - Banana taped to a wall. Cattelan has notably never elaborated on Comedian's intent beyond the fact that it is a banana and it's supposed to be a banana. Cattelan however is known for his critique of art and the art world through his practice. An astute art theorist would at this point draw your attention to signs and signifiers and the deconstruction of the contemporary image in meme culture. I for one will enact my own contemporary artistic honesty here and tell you that I can't be bothered. Not because it's irrelevant, and not because I don't know (shoutout Saussure) but because I do not think that this is where Comedian's importance lies. For me Comedian's importance comes from its brutal honesty that is repeatedly complicated and convoluted.


Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian, Banana and Duct Tape, 20 x 20 x 5cm, 2019
Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian, Banana and Duct Tape, 20 x 20 x 5cm, 2019

Recently, in a light-hearted jest, my boyfriend sent me an Instagram post from the account Memezar that poked fun at contemporary art. The cover post was of a twitter screenshot with 2 photos of classical marble sculpture and a photo of Comedian titled "1504,1622, 2019... where did we go wrong ?" beneath this was a reply stating, "Every time tape banana is talked about tape banana wins." Now apart from providing me with some phrasing I could appropriate (thanks @jacq_lyn4 ) the comments on this post proved the exact point that no matter how honest an artist is about their contemporary art's form it will still be used a vehicle for peoples own socio-political expression. Amongst defenders of 'tape banana' nay-sayers stated, 'modern art is just money-laundering' and that 'western society declined post-enlightenment' some even got inspired that they 'might just take my "art" to a gallery !" Now comments about digital literacy and meme-culture aside what comes through here is that when artists are honest in their art and therefore honest in their role as artists, they will insight strong cultural, social, and political conversation - whether they want to or not.


So, I invite you all to approach things a little bit more like a contemporary artist. Be bold, be brave and be honest - who knows one day you might get to duct-tape your own banana up at a gallery.



Memezar on Instagram, "Contemporary mfs be like:", Digital, 2025
Memezar on Instagram, "Contemporary mfs be like:", Digital, 2025

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