News > Sonic Youth
Kim Gordon’s Paintings Are Just As Bad As Her Music (But Way More Expensive)
By Johnny Firecloud
Friday, October 23, 2009
After trying her hand at Urban Outfitters fashion with a “clothes for cool moms” clothing line, Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon has decided to storm the modern art world with her acrylic contributions. Here’s a taste:
Isn’t it bad enough that an entire generation of music kids still feels the need to pretend that Sonic Youth aren’t the most overrated noisemakers in the history of rock music? I’m all for people expressing their artistic flare, and value attribution based on celebrity is certainly nothing new, but when you’re slapping two drippy words on a canvas and using your established name to sucker people into spending upwards of six grand on it, you suck. No excuses.
So if you’ve got some bare wall space and you think an original “Dude War,” “Pussy Galore,” or “Failing Lights” painting would go great with your Kanye West coffee table book, you can own one of these 20″ x 16″ acrylic paintings for a mere €4000.00. Or you can set your euros on fire and take pictures of the blaze. Now that’s art.
$6,000!!?? jesus holy goddamn hell. so doing the math, one square of toilet paper used by kim gordon would run you about $300. yeah, that’s punk rock.
Alright, you guys kinda suck. Sister and Daydream Nation were great albums, and their newer work isnt bad. You seem to tilt away from a lot of good music ’cause of weird preconceptions you share; for example, you’ve said things like “One Robert Smith is enough…” – Are you shitting me? he’s one of the best musicians of all time! One or two bring-downs is funny, but completely shitting on a legacy because you’d rather listen to fucking Pearl Jam b-sides is just ludicrous. Do better, then talk shit. Although i agree these paintings are selling for too much.
Yeah I kind of agree with Tim, you don’t suck site is great but you seem to downplay a lot of great bands, based not on music alone but on soem personal reasons. Sonic Youth is awesome band, even better live than studio, I remember watching them 3 years ago, they came with out tuned guitars and totally blew everyone away. And I don’t like alternative music much I am more Guns N’ Roses/Buckcherry/ACDC guy but that’s the sign of great band when it appeals to people who generally don’t listen to sucj music.
Sonic Youth’s live show is mildly interesting – seen ‘em three times – and they were artistically relevant for five minutes, nearly twenty years ago. There’s also something to be said for sticking to your guns and doing it your way against all odds, but there’s no way in hell SY is worth the hype and fawning that they’ve amassed over the years. Sorry to trample through the precious garden of your musical tastes, but I’ve been trying to find true justification for this band from day one. I’ve got a soft spot for the Cure just as much as any ’80s casualty, but *yes* we only need one Robert Smith, just like we only need one Morrissey and Bono and Eddie Vedder. We got a second Vedder, but with leather pants and a Jesus complex (Stapp) it didn’t work out too well in the long run.
Check out our artist section – you’ll find a hell of a lot more than passion for just Pearl Jam B-sides. We promote what we believe in, and we rally behind true vision, on wax or off. But we’ve also come to be known for taking hatchets to unwarranted sacred cows – hence our name. Sonic Youth is one of them.
couldn’t have said it much better than johnny. but i will add that you can bet that if eddie vedder smeared two words on a white canvas in cheap acrylic paint and tried to sell it for $6,000, we’d have his ass up on a cross. no one gets a pass around here, not even our heroes. i’ve had to call out some of my own as well.
Very good point.
I’m going into my garage right now to smear shit on a canvas and write some nonsense. In a few months I’ll announce to the world that at a local Flea Market I found authentic art work (unknown to the world) by G.G. Allin.
Let The Bidding Began!!!!
While I think there are better contemporary artists selling in that price range, Kim Gordon has been a practicing artist way before Sonic Youth reached the indie masses, so she definitely has her credibility in tact.
She was actually a close associate of Larry Gagosian and was involved with White Cube Gallery, when she graduated from Otis back in the day. It doesn’t seem likely that Kim is trying to all of a sudden cash-in, as from all the sources, she probably is more at home as an artist than musician.
You can’t really discount Sonic Youth’s authority in various genres of art and music… as in their nearly 30 year history, they have had seriously close associations with artists like Raymond Pettibon, Gerhard Richter, Richard Prince, Dan Graham, etc. These are all seriously, world renown artists. It’s a predisposition that doesn’t exist in someone like Vedder suddenly storming the art world, it’s very different.
Granted the art is kind of a cop-out, I think that is the “idea” and probably channels the aesthetics of John Fahey, who painted the recent album cover for The Eternal. I happened to see one of Gordon’s paintings in person and while I preferred some of the other paintings by other artists at the exhibition, I do have to admit that the paintings are obviously more textural and more compositionally planned in their physical form. They were especially cohesive with the other artists in the show, Ron English, Gibby Haynes, etc.
Informed, logical rebuttals are the death of internet communication. Sike – you make good points, Shane. Thanks for weighing in. But all the same, there’s no excuse for charging that much cash for drippy words on a canvas.
Why not ? She can charge as much as she can, and if someone buys that mean he wanted to buy it. I’ve seen worse art for bigger money. Big deal. And considering Sonic Youth you can trash them as hard as you want but that only makes you biased and not professional. But maybe you’re not intend to be professional and that’s fine with and I love that site anyway, usually yourt insight, reviews and interviews are better than established sites.
And Sonic Youth guitar work is sublime and awesome, and they have it. For me it is one of the most groundbraking guitar bands since Hendrix.
The art world is wack. Anybody can sell anything, as long as there’s someone out there with a shitload of cash and no taste. I see where she’s coming from, artistically and historically, but it still doesn’t do anything at all for me. This kind of art, while it has it’s value, has always struck me as pretentious and lazy. I think it probably helps if you do a lot of smack first before seeing her paintings.
Sonic Youth, on the other hand, are great. Daydream Nation and Dirty are 2 of my favorite albums. Yeah they’re noisy, and maybe too avant-garde for their own good, but their fuck-you-all attitude and integrity for their art speaks volumes.
Come on guys. It’s crap. Why is it that people try so hard to justify shitty art? If you have to argue with yourself to believe in it, it’s not something you should stand up for. On a totally unrelated note, Sonic Youth is definitely overrated.
Ok it is personal opinion for many Pearl Jam is overrated for others Guns N’ Roses or Sonic Youth.
“Anti art” really weeds out the douchebags. Sonic Youth are awesome but slightly overrated. Gordon’s “art” is pretentious horseshite.
Yeah I agree, but calling her art as bad as music is one of the most amateur statements I’ve ever read on music website. I agree SY is slightly overrated like almost any band ( bar Bealtes, Stones, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin but some people claim those are also overrated) that got big made few mindblowing records ( and SY has 3 awesome, ground braking records). Take Motley Crue , they are great and greatly overrated, but there was not other band that captured the vibe of that era, not even Guns N’ Roses. Crue was ultimate L.A band, Gn’R was better ( better songs, better singer, better lyrics everything better) but Crue is legendary band and overrated but still kickin’ ass and their influence and heritage is still very live. The same goes for Sonic Youth but there are not as much overrated, their music was much more art and guitar work that is fantastic.
customer service department here. sorry for your unpleasant experience. we value our reputation as music journalists and as such much prefer to be insulted as juvenile rather than amateur. we’ve prepared an alternate title we’d like to offer you, using an obscure reference to the subject matter to subtly display our encyclopedic knowledge of the band’s catalog: ‘kim gordon’s art: total trash.’ also, i’ve enclosed a coupon for a free six dollar burger at carl’s jr. which thurston moore shat on.
sonic youth isn’t as cool if you’ve heard PiL and velvet underground. thurston owes them ALOT.
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