The Art of Artfree Art
Hao den Bok - A Retrospective
10 April - 31 August 2007
Great Hall of the People, Wasol Ishda, Absurdistan
The embassy of the Kingdom of Absurdistan is proud to announce this great retrospective of Absurdistan’s landmark artist Hao den Bok, the first after his tragic death in 2006. Den Bok, since the early days of his artistic life in the 1970s, has been at once the founding and the father figure of the internationally renowned school of Absurdistani naïve art, often dubbed “artfree art” on the international art scene because of its decisive rejection of artistic value. While in the early days of the movement many denounced the works produced as artless, this seeming lack of artistry became soon perceived as its greatest asset and the rejection of traditional artistic categories such as meaning, craftsmanship, emotional appeal, and profoundness, became to be seen as the ultimate expression of artistic (i.e., in this case, non-artistic) freedom.
The following is an extract from an interview with Mr. den Bok from 2004:
The Absurdistan Herald: Mr. den Bok, your work is widely acclaimed as groundbreaking. It has paved into the art-market, which is increasingly becoming a non-art market, for many non-artists like you. Where did you take the inspiration and the strength from to go where no artist had gone before, at least not admittedly so?
Hao den Bok: What seems an easy and logical step looking back was not at all an easy one then. The art market and the museums were dominated by genuine artists producing and exhibiting and selling genuine artistic works. Knowing I was not one of them, the obvious choice would have been to drop the idea of art and artistic education and rather chose an education in the rhetorical arts of the social sciences in order to learn to be able to talk over the lack of artistic value and compensate for it with a gift for witty speech. Having tried this and found it disappointing, I chose a third way, namely to delve into various personal crises and breakdowns in order to stake out the full extent of the human ability for suffering and joy. I did manage to gain a greater understanding of that which good, that which is noble, that which is beautiful. But the real breakthrough came when I realized that only the denial and eventually the dissolution of judgment would eventually lead to that open space, to that freedom that would permit to grasp the human condition and its striving in its entirety. This is when I began to open up to an idea of non-art, meaning a mode of personal expression which does not depend on thought and self-judgment. I began to scribble not caring whether, if against my better self I judged what I did, I would be ashamed of myself and stop scribbling. Instead of stopping my activity I stopped judgment. This is how I became what I am now.
AbsHer: So what would your advice for the young generation be?
den Bok: I would tell them to continue whatever they’re doing. If it feels right, it’s good. It’s all good.
AbsHer: Having made it this far: where to from here?
den Bok: Until this point, our art or not-art, whatever one might call it, let’s call it expression, is tied to a certain ironical view, especially on the international art market: people buy our works because they see in them a daring refusal of the rules of the market. As this refusal of its own rules is perceived as its primary rule, our expression attains high prices on this market. I dream of surpassing this irony. Instead of talking about art or non-art I want to speak about expression, instead of talking about the expression of artistic value, whatever that might really mean, I would prefer to speak about expression of love. Instead of buying the expressions of others I would encourage them to express themselves and make their own!
Hao den Bok: What seems an easy and logical step looking back was not at all an easy one then. The art market and the museums were dominated by genuine artists producing and exhibiting and selling genuine artistic works. Knowing I was not one of them, the obvious choice would have been to drop the idea of art and artistic education and rather chose an education in the rhetorical arts of the social sciences in order to learn to be able to talk over the lack of artistic value and compensate for it with a gift for witty speech. Having tried this and found it disappointing, I chose a third way, namely to delve into various personal crises and breakdowns in order to stake out the full extent of the human ability for suffering and joy. I did manage to gain a greater understanding of that which good, that which is noble, that which is beautiful. But the real breakthrough came when I realized that only the denial and eventually the dissolution of judgment would eventually lead to that open space, to that freedom that would permit to grasp the human condition and its striving in its entirety. This is when I began to open up to an idea of non-art, meaning a mode of personal expression which does not depend on thought and self-judgment. I began to scribble not caring whether, if against my better self I judged what I did, I would be ashamed of myself and stop scribbling. Instead of stopping my activity I stopped judgment. This is how I became what I am now.
AbsHer: So what would your advice for the young generation be?
den Bok: I would tell them to continue whatever they’re doing. If it feels right, it’s good. It’s all good.
AbsHer: Having made it this far: where to from here?
den Bok: Until this point, our art or not-art, whatever one might call it, let’s call it expression, is tied to a certain ironical view, especially on the international art market: people buy our works because they see in them a daring refusal of the rules of the market. As this refusal of its own rules is perceived as its primary rule, our expression attains high prices on this market. I dream of surpassing this irony. Instead of talking about art or non-art I want to speak about expression, instead of talking about the expression of artistic value, whatever that might really mean, I would prefer to speak about expression of love. Instead of buying the expressions of others I would encourage them to express themselves and make their own!
The exhibition is open everyday from 10 to 20 hrs, Sat/Sun and bank holidays until 22:30 hrs.
The entrance is free. Preference is given to emotionally disabled visitors.
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