Monday, January 4, 2010
Music Jay-Z's "On To The Next One" Video: High Art or Middlebrow Mumbojumbo?
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 9:39 AM
The abstract, montage-based video also has a samurai woman jumping in slow-motion with attendant billowing capes and straps, a couple dancers on piles of luggage, a visual equalizer made of electrical chords, and, my favorite, milk and flaming basketballs dropping in super-slo-mo.
The most conspicuous visuals (aside from Swizz Beatz hogging the camera) are three crystal-encrusted Damien Hirst skulls (pictured), which are doused in paint. At $100 million a pop, this gesture makes the video both the most expensive ever (okay, they probably used replicas, but still), and a brilliant piece of appropriation art and criticism. In the space of a few frames, Jigga reclaims a piece of fancy jewelery that's been masquerading as art for far too long, effectively turning it into a canvas for an abstract expressionist drip painting. Factor in the Koonsian shininess of the tagged Jaguar that appears during the first verse, and Jay just might be New York's most astute art critic.
Comments (3)
Showing 1-3 of 3
Top Commenters
