Art on Yachts & The Indecency of the Rich

From Jeff Koons to Banksy, art yachts are a new product of our era. What does that say about us?

Dahlia Namian’s La société de provocation:

#arthistory #art

[lithium]

This reminds me of that scene from Children of Men where the protagonist has dinner with a rich cousin whose job is to take famous artworks to save them from the end of the world, but ends up using them to decorate his own house in a heavily fortified rich neighborhood in London. During the dinner scene the cousin has Guernica hung up in his dining room, which is as tone deaf as painting your superyacht with dazzle paint.

Also in the movie his house is Battersea Power Station complete with the flying Pig from Pink Floyd's Animals cover art. So it's a triple threat of tone deafness, "saving" famous artifacts from other countries by taking them away. Putting them in a former factory that's famous for being featured on an album criticizing capitalism. And having it converted into a palace for a rich guy who uses the stolen art to decorate his rooms.

[MadHatter]

Famous horror actor Vincent Price was a lifelong collector of art who also believed that everyone should benefit from having access to fine art. To this end, he worked with Sears to create the Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art, which sold fine art prints to everyday Americans at affordable prices. Some people think this cheapened the art, but I would much rather the rich use their money to increase access to art rather than sequester it away on their private yachts to go unappreciated and splattered with spaghettios.

[RobKristjansson]

"Guilty" the billionaire's ostentatious display of the passive-aggressive idiom "sorry, not sorry"

[DoloresJNurss]

Great art belongs to the world. Hoarding it out of sight of the rest of us, on a boat that could destroy it all in a single storm, is indeed obscene.

[kaktusdesiberie]

I saw Elon Musk evoking how come billionaires don’t dress loudly while middle class people aspire to consume luxury goods? Well this could be an answer. Project moral superiority by cosplaying humbleness and don’t provoke revolt.

[fng]

I am from Hydra and Ive had the misfortune of seeing this eyesore of a yacht (the Jeff Koons one) every year for many years now. The common consensus amongst the island, both locals and visitors is how ugly it is. Personally I find that these it detracts from the traditional beauty of the island, which we are trying desperately preserve. I feel like people like Jeff Koons and other rich people are destroying my island. It's quite a long discussion though, but the general idea is that: These people attract the 'wrong crowd' to the island. Hydra used to be a little safe space for artists. A place for creative people to get inspired, socialise and relax. Musicians, and many local painters and jewellers I know have lived on Hydra for decades even though some are not even originally from Greece. And now, the past few years all I see is the rich, ignorant and very arrogant foreigners who (quite disrespectfully) come and declare that the island belongs to them in some way. Ive overheard them saying "this is my dog fifi, how can you not know my dog? everyone on the island knows my dog! I've bought three houses on this island.".These people don't have any idea about the history, the people or the essence of the island, and yet they go around buying land and boasting about their money and "popularity" on the island.

People like Jeff Koons and others, take the *Idea* of the island and then try and force it into their own version of it. I remember Koon's "exhibition" (if you can even call it that), on the island. And he took some "idea" of Greece and just utterly distorted it and, frankly I was very upset seeing this displayed on my island. Many Greeks and locals didnt apreciate his art at all. And I feel like, as an artists it is your DUTY to ensure that your art isn't offending the culture that it's 'inspired by'.

Anyway, its only going to get worse, and theres not much that can be done about it.

On a side note, also due to the preservation of traditional architecture on the island, architects and new build houses have to be made according to traditional architecture. So as to avoid the contamination and littering of grotesque "villas" comprising of glass and concrete monstrosities that would destroy the identity of the land. It is something that saddens me across all of Greece, and of course the rich are starting to break these rules by paying their way out of the restrictions or just by keeping their constructions secret.


Iv'e had to summarise everything so I sound a bit insensitive, sorry
Rant over 🤣

[piccalillipit]

*MY FAVOURITE INDICATOR OF OBSCENE WEALTH INEQUALITY* is "pastoralism" as personified by Marie Antoinette's little peasant village where she would play at being poor, or the poverty parties of late Victorian / Edwardian London.

They occur when the rich start to get embarrassed by their riches, nervous about the mass of destitute plebs. And we are seeing it again - top restaurants serving drinks in jam jars *GOOD*

it usually getting close to the end for that at this point 😀

[nateux]

I think you're missing the nuance of dazzle camouflage and it's relevant because even as you created this video essay exploring it's relationship to the parade of wealth you do not see the essential part of the paradox - Dazzle camouflage has no effect at all on the visibility of a battleship, like great wealth the battleship simply can not be hidden, there simply is no way to hide an object so profoundly in contrast with it's environment. A battleship is a behemoth of violence and of such proportions that it need only concern itself with the threat of those aiming to destroy it. In this way dazzle camouflage seems to disorient the viewer as to the true dimensions, intentions, and direction of momentum (this you do touch on).

Even as you ask, "how are they preventing revolt?" you miss the point of the art world itself, it exists to launder great wealth, to hide it, cloak it in purpose or the pretense of cultural cultivation but it is the Razzle Dazzle of wealth itself - you look upon a VanGogh, Warhol, a Banksy and critique the art - but the art itself is evidence of the laundering, the grift, the heist that has already happened... The same with Koons work here - Pretending that buying a yacht is synonymous with investing in a work of art is like pretending that buying out your competition is no different than growing your business or planting evidence is a way of preventing crime.... it "is" the evidence of a crime so big, it can't be hidden, it can only be dressed up as something else.

[drewdonald]

You can try to break down every nuance as to why dazzle camouflage didn't work. But you have to admit... it was pretty fucking cool.

[AppleOfNewton]

The purpose of camouflage is to blend the in the surrounding. But in a society which is dominated by class discrimination and poverty, The pattern on the yacht provide them with the surrounding in which the Billionaire can hide themselves. That's the camouflage.

[EditioCastigata]

Part of me thinks, the art is not on the boat to isolate, to make viewing it even more an exclusive experience you’d have to be invited to do, but held hostage: Sink mine, and “yours” will go under as well! The camouflage then just puts that thinking on display.

[loca]

6:42 - This is very good. "All the art of the rich lies in their ability to provoke admiration while preventing the indecency of their private fortune from leading to revolt". That is so good. Je parle français et je vais lire ce livre. Thank you for the excellent video.

[lukestarkiller]

I think the only reason stuff like this doesn’t lead to revolt is because most people see a cool painted yacht and just say “hey that looks pretty cool” and then they just go on with their lives. The fact that it looks cool causes people to associate good emotions with it, which distracts them from the negative feelings they might feel about it otherwise. It’s like emotional camouflage, it hides its undesirable nature by appearing very interesting and nice to look at.

[zetectic]

Dazzle Ships is the fourth studio album by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released on 4 March 1983. Its title and cover art allude to a painting by Vorticist artist Edward Wadsworth based on dazzle camouflage, titled Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool.
Oh to be the captain of a pirate submarine with the soubriquet Nemo.

[davidmayhew]

Interesting. One mega yacht recently sank in the Mediterranean. But you know this.

[flatbunny]

Billionaires and their super yachts. Where's The Crimson Permanent Assurance when you need them.

[christianguzman]

I would like say good anylisis but also that yatch skin looks clean af. It looks like a 2013 cartoon network bumper.

[dominiccoyne]

Load up the U-Boats boys, we're heading to the Mediterranean

[javierburgos]

My reaction to Guitly was literally, meh. It's like a minimalist tried to do psychedelic art.

[bojcio]

Dazzle camouflage on a private boat is such a dumb idea for multiple reasons. Imagine an emergency or rescue situation, the last thing you want to do is confuse the people trying to come to your aid, in low light situations this could easily be the case.