The Pursuit of an Artificial Perfection in Art

If
I was to ask you what is it that makes an artwork so special, so
intriguing and unique? I would expect that pretty much everyone would
say the time, energy, spirit, expression and effort that the artist has
put into the work. The reason that artworks are able to be so special,
so unique, so diverse, so emotive, so communicative and so expressive
is because they are the result of human activity. This human activity
is so important to an artwork because it reflects the characteristics
of human nature that include our ability to reason, to think abstractly
and act independently along with the benefits of free will, which allow
us to produce artworks with these characteristics.

Art is not only a form of communication but it is also a celebration
of all the amazing human characteristics that I have mentioned above,
and rightly so, yet there seems to be an emerging trend in the art
world of artists pursuing a form of perfection that results in these
characteristics being absent from many artworks. This pursuit of
perfection is not an artist’s personal attempt to create what they
would perceive as their ultimate artwork or the most artistically
beautiful work, it is a pursuit of a manufactured perfection that is
polished, sterile, clean, artificial, mechanical and void of any
evidence of human involvement. The Chinese have a philosophy when it
comes to art that the particular outward appearance of things, or
indeed their accuracy, was of secondary importance to capturing the
essence and spirit of the subject. Some Chinese artists even went to
the extreme of deliberately including a small error in each of their
works to emphasise the “human” nature of their artistic pursuits.

For example, Jeff Koon’s work “Hanging Heart”, which recently earnt
Koons the title of the most expensive living artist, is basically a
soul-less, sterile chromium and stainless steel object that took over
6000 man hours to manufacture by a stable of artists employed by Koons.
“Hanging Heart” is one of five versions of the work that were executed
by a German manufacturer to Koons’ specifications. So not only did
Koons not actually create this artwork he actually employed a
manufacturer to produce the artwork for him. If we want to buy
something that is merely functional or decorative then we buy something
that is mass produced by machines or labourers in a factory, which is
how Koons’ “Hanging Heart” was produced. Because of these facts one can
only come to the conclusion that “Hanging Heart” is in fact not an
artwork but a decorative object. Koons hired someone to produce this
artwork because he wanted it to be perfect yet by pursuing this form of
perfection, Koons has stripped away the soul, energy and spirit that
can only be transferred to an artwork by an artist if they are actually
the ones physically creating the work.

If you remove the human element from an artwork you are left with an
object that is void of energy and spirit, and these are two of the
characteristics that give the viewer the ability to not only see the
artwork but to experience the artwork and engage with the artwork. One
of the most valuable traits of an artwork is an ability to connect with
the viewer and evoke emotions, intrigue, debate, and yet with Koons’
work and similar works you view it once and there is no reason and no
urge to return to view it again. For these reasons I would never invest
in such a work, because it does not have the characteristics that
include being thought provoking, emotive, energetic, spiritual,
engaging, interactive etc. the things that cause viewers to assign
value and express an appreciation for and opinion of the artwork.

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of http://www.artmarketblog.com,
writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for
Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.