In exploring the ideas of solo performance, my attention first came to the artist Matt Chewiwie. An artist that aims to explore the fluidity of reality (Chewiwie, 2008) and the distinction of performance art and entertainment. His statement explores the issues of his performance seen above in which he aims to explore the distinction of what art is and how he can be classed as an artist. However, upon a second showing I started to doubt how he could be classed as an artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yJPZfFOrsc
He begins the video by paying reference to an unspecified artist in commenting supposedly to Chewiwie that “life is a vicious, nasty dragon” in which he disregards this comment immediately (Chewiwie, 2008). This already causes issue by asking the audience to not disregard the way the world looks but also asks us to approach the idea of the world in a naive manner and accept that the world still lives with ‘pink and fluffy unicorns’. What he risks with this opening statement is his problem of patronising the viewer watching his statement as if they do not know the problems of the world.
He then carries on by exploring the tools that he uses to not only generate performance but also document his performances for his work. The reason he does this is to supposedly comment on the “absurdities of life” in which he aims to ridicule society and the way we act in society (Chewiwie, 2008). Whilst his comments are appreciated that he aims to satirise problems of society, I worry what he means by an absurdity. He never clearly shows us what he means by this absurdity of life and if so, what that absurdity is that he wants to approach and how he approaches it. For example, could we gain more about this absurdity from the works of Samuel Beckett or even the from the rapidity of the work of David Mamet?
The main issue that arises is when after the words, “I am an artist.”, he then continues to say that “more as an artist,” Chewiwie “sees himself as an entertainer” and therefore shows issue with trying to distinguish this issue between Art and Entertainment (Chewiwie, 2008). He then furthers this problem by claiming that he wants “to make people laugh” and also “make people excited” (Chewiwie, 2008). Whilst in no means I am saying that there is only one option, by trying to categorise himself as an entertainer, it down-cries art as a form meant to feel something rather than to produce a topic or issue explored that can be explored through the medium of art. Indeed, Richard Schechner highlights this issue in analysing performance in which “Performances mark identities, bend time, reshape and adorn the body and tell the stories.” (Schechner, 2013, 28). Whereas with Chewiwie’s statement about being an artist, by claiming he makes people feel something, he is therefore performing to make an audience feel an emotion in comparison to the idea of art which, according to Oxford Dictionary, is “A person skilled at a particular task or occupation.” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2018).
He then concludes his statement by talking about his audience and his work in which he answers that he “strives to find the inner child in everybody else” and also argues that he is not “trying to tell people how or what to think” and “trying to tackle any…big political or heavy issues that are way above my scope.” (Chewiwie, 2008). Again, this sparks debate for me as whilst Chewiwie does try to ensure that an audience is immersed in the imaginative world of his pieces of work, I do worry that not only he is trying to limit himself but also is also saying that those who focus upon big issues are not willing to play around with the functions of performance. Therefore, by saying that politics is above his scope, it implies that Chewiwie is actually trying to limit what he can do and therefore, his work can seem a bit confusing and nonsensical.
Thus, in rounding up this conclusion of the discussion of Chewiwie’s statement, it comes across to me as confusing, nonsensical and a bit patronising. He tries to make out the distinction between an artist and performer when in fact he is never able to get that distinction correct between performer and artist. Chewiwie is someone who I struggle to understand after watching and analysing his statement numerous times.
Works Cited:
Chewiwie, M (2008) Matt Chewiwie’s Artist Statement. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yJPZfFOrsc [accessed 5 February 2018].
Oxford Dictionaries (2018) Artist – definition of artist in English by Oxford Dictionaries. Available from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/artist [accessed 5 February 2018].
Schechner, R. (2013) Performance Studies – An Introduction [ebook], 3rd Edition. Routledge: New York. https://www-dawsonera-com.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/readonline/9780203125168/startPage/8/1 [accessed 5 February 2018].