It saddens me to see that the juvenile need to equate any hint of popularity with artistic unworthiness exists in the NY Times reader population. Even moreso the need to repeatedly and publicly stamp one's feet about it.
1
So original and talented. Keep doing what you're doing Björk.
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*** Björk at Radio City Music Hall with a full orchestra and choir in 2001. ***
I was there! ^_^
I was there! ^_^
2
Will have to see this if we're in NYC this year.
At a time when real hostages' lives are at stake, it seems insensitive and perhaps offensive to use the word in the headline of an article about pop music.
4
Oh, please…
No books, plays, songs, poems mentioning war, death, terminal illness, etc., etc., etc.
No books, plays, songs, poems mentioning war, death, terminal illness, etc., etc., etc.
5
Many musicians have used their work to espouse political opinions, and frequently those opinions promote freedom from actual imprisonment and control as well as metaphorical release.
One example was the role that the little-known American musician Rodriguez played in inspiring young white South Africans to reject the Apartheid system instituted by their parents and grandparents.
Björk, specifically, has devoted much energy to encouraging what she views as colonies to become independent - Tibet, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, that I am aware of.
Greenland and the Faroes are ruled by Denmark, a status shared by Iceland until 1918. Iceland was a desperately poor nation while under the rule of Denmark, as well expressed in Haldor Laxness's novel Independent People. Iceland has since then become one of the wealthiest nations in the world, with industrialization and as one of the beneficiaries of the US Marshall Plan following WW2.
Iceland is one of few nations with no standing army. Icelanders also rebelled against demands that they be held responsible for the debts incurred by privately owned banks. The result was a new constitution and multiple rejections of demands by British and Dutch creditors for public payment of private debts.
But perhaps threats of financial hostage-taking are also insensitive in your opinion.
One example was the role that the little-known American musician Rodriguez played in inspiring young white South Africans to reject the Apartheid system instituted by their parents and grandparents.
Björk, specifically, has devoted much energy to encouraging what she views as colonies to become independent - Tibet, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, that I am aware of.
Greenland and the Faroes are ruled by Denmark, a status shared by Iceland until 1918. Iceland was a desperately poor nation while under the rule of Denmark, as well expressed in Haldor Laxness's novel Independent People. Iceland has since then become one of the wealthiest nations in the world, with industrialization and as one of the beneficiaries of the US Marshall Plan following WW2.
Iceland is one of few nations with no standing army. Icelanders also rebelled against demands that they be held responsible for the debts incurred by privately owned banks. The result was a new constitution and multiple rejections of demands by British and Dutch creditors for public payment of private debts.
But perhaps threats of financial hostage-taking are also insensitive in your opinion.
Indeed. Though we may find ourselves in a Catch-22 position.
Laugh at the Swan dress, but she is so much more than Taylor Swift, and a close second, Katy Perry
2
Hopefully the MoMA will use the cash windfall from pandering to celebrity to fund a retrospective of an under exposed, but much more pivotal visual artist. For starters, I think Agnes Martin is deserving.
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What cash windfall will be generated by 100 visitors an hour?
2
In spite of her celebrity, I think Bjork is deserving.
And 1,000 other people think 1,000 other artists are deserving.
We all think.
Not all of us get to seen our thoughts become reality.
And 1,000 other people think 1,000 other artists are deserving.
We all think.
Not all of us get to seen our thoughts become reality.
3
Bjork operates from pure emotion. Simple and pure. She and also Antony. Unfortunately, original artists are few and far between these days. Her new record is heartbreaking and if you ever have gone through such a breakup, listening to it is pretty devastating. I'm so lucky there is a Bjork in this world. It would be a very dull one without her.
6
After reading through this wondrous article promoting Björk's brand, I must say I wish I was back in the USA so that I could enjoy going to MoMA, and then squandering my cash while exiting MoMA's giftshop on some really cook Björk stuff.
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Is she a brand? I don't know, all I've bought so far is her music, nothing else...
3
Brands are less than human things.
Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga are brands.
Ella Fitzgerald, Kate Bush, and Patsy Cline aren't/weren't brands.
I don't know whether or not Bjork thinks of herself as a brand.
I hope not.
Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga are brands.
Ella Fitzgerald, Kate Bush, and Patsy Cline aren't/weren't brands.
I don't know whether or not Bjork thinks of herself as a brand.
I hope not.
2
I love Björk. She's unique, driven to express herself, and doesn't sell out for commercial success. Her paper-thin voice has always given me the shivers. I don't necessarily always find her music easy to listen to, but I give her credit for always evolving and trying something new and not repeating a formula.
This may sound shallow, but I love looking at pictures of her. She has the most interesting style that is always unpredictable and keeps people on their toes. The headline image of her face with the post-production green and yellow curvy lines.... love it. I am completely sick to death of Beyonce, JLo, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, etc. I don't need any more forced and repetitive "Aren't I pretty?" visuals.
If I had the means, MoMA would be on my agenda.
This may sound shallow, but I love looking at pictures of her. She has the most interesting style that is always unpredictable and keeps people on their toes. The headline image of her face with the post-production green and yellow curvy lines.... love it. I am completely sick to death of Beyonce, JLo, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, etc. I don't need any more forced and repetitive "Aren't I pretty?" visuals.
If I had the means, MoMA would be on my agenda.
15
Bjork may claim to eschew commercial concerns but certainly MoMA cannot!
3
Bjork is my music superhero! I love that she takes us along on her journey of exploration.
7
Everyone looses relationships. Congratulations to Mr Pareles for not
pursuing the details of Bjork's and Mr. Barney's parting ways.
I have always loved Bjork's experimentalism. Her music can
be euphoric sensuous and unexpected. It can also be annoying
and tedious. She is unquestionably a voice like no other.
MOMA seems comfortable with pursuing shows that feature
entertainers who seem to straddle the worlds of art and pop.
It's a great strategy for attendance but I am not sure it differs
much than a show on the Star Wars trilogy.
pursuing the details of Bjork's and Mr. Barney's parting ways.
I have always loved Bjork's experimentalism. Her music can
be euphoric sensuous and unexpected. It can also be annoying
and tedious. She is unquestionably a voice like no other.
MOMA seems comfortable with pursuing shows that feature
entertainers who seem to straddle the worlds of art and pop.
It's a great strategy for attendance but I am not sure it differs
much than a show on the Star Wars trilogy.
7
you seem to think that a show on the Star Wars series (6 feature films, various television experiments, copious illustrated works spanning nearly 40 years) is a bad thing.
despite its dubious quality of plot, dialog, and such, Star Wars has a tremendous variety of visual objects that are worthy of attention.
just because something is popular it doesn't mean it can't also be art. many of the world's great artists, particularly those who worked in drawings and prints like Albrecht Dürer and Hokusai produced a huge amount of material to meet the demand for their art while they were alive.
however, a major difference would be that Star Wars is vastly more popular than Björk.
despite its dubious quality of plot, dialog, and such, Star Wars has a tremendous variety of visual objects that are worthy of attention.
just because something is popular it doesn't mean it can't also be art. many of the world's great artists, particularly those who worked in drawings and prints like Albrecht Dürer and Hokusai produced a huge amount of material to meet the demand for their art while they were alive.
however, a major difference would be that Star Wars is vastly more popular than Björk.
2
Some years back, while hanging around Bleecker Street in the East Village saw Bjork and Matthew Barney simply strolling on the street. It was almost like an apparition.
8
We are very lucky that perhaps the two contemporary pop artists with the most unique and powerful vocal powers--Bjork and Thom Yorke--are also the two most experimental. Their duet "I've Seen It All" is a thing of rare beauty.
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You do Thom Yorke too much credit. Bjork and PJ Harvey are the most uncompromising artists working in rock now.
I disagree about Bjork, but PJH? Yes. She is pop/rock/whatever music's single most compelling artist.
As for being uncompromising or "difficult" for mainstream sensibilities, albums like "Is this Desire" and some of her work with people like John Parrish is as about as hard to sell as anything I can think of, and I can't think of any songwriter and performer of recent times who's handled themes of war and human degradation on an industrial scale better than her...with more art than her.
Bjork doesn't get to that same place...to me.
Thanks for mentioning PJH. Made my day here.
As for being uncompromising or "difficult" for mainstream sensibilities, albums like "Is this Desire" and some of her work with people like John Parrish is as about as hard to sell as anything I can think of, and I can't think of any songwriter and performer of recent times who's handled themes of war and human degradation on an industrial scale better than her...with more art than her.
Bjork doesn't get to that same place...to me.
Thanks for mentioning PJH. Made my day here.
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@ Midwest Mom and Iarrea: A PJH reference on NYT? Wonderful! Thanks for sending me running to blare "Oh My Lover" for the first time in years. Sounds as good as ever.
Listen to "Vespertine" all the way through, with headphones, in a darkened room. It is amazing what art one person can create using sound as the palette.
13
I have followed Bjork for over twenty years now. She is one of the few modern musicians with a strong following that dares to release work that comes intimately from herself, with seemingly little to no commercial concern. Her music evolves as she evolves as a both an artist and human and has been a wonderful companion throughout my life. I am glad to see "Vulnicura" as a step back from her abstract efforts (likely due to significant influence from her relationship with Barney) toward the raw sensuality of "Vespertine" seen through the visceral distortion of extricating herself from her enmeshment with Barney.
12
Not one mention of her in the brilliant Lars von Trier film, "Dancer in the Dark" (2000). I can't recommend it highly enough.
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I respectfully disagree. I think that movie--and almost everything LVT has done since arguably "Zentropa"--is unwatchable. No director is more overrated...except maybe David Lynch...but I digress.
Bjork didn't bring anything additional to the film.
Whatever happened to that whole vaunted Dogme 95 thing anyway?
I guess it stopped serving his interests. Back to mannerist film making for him.
Bjork didn't bring anything additional to the film.
Whatever happened to that whole vaunted Dogme 95 thing anyway?
I guess it stopped serving his interests. Back to mannerist film making for him.
5
I respectfully disagree. I think the movie was great and that Bjork was particularly great in it.
1
She is such an extreme artist; going for a vision, not for the applause or the celebrity. No pandering, no apologies. I don't love all the music but I am fascinated by the quest, by the risks she takes.
41
Extreme would be Diamanda Galas, or maybe Lydia Lunch.
If you're not familiar, check them out. It's not easy stuff though; especially Galas.
Bjork, while certainly adventurous, is not what I would call extreme.
If you're not familiar, check them out. It's not easy stuff though; especially Galas.
Bjork, while certainly adventurous, is not what I would call extreme.
3
I second Iarrea.
Bjork is clearly a pop star. Sure, at the edge, but not extreme. And her "retrospective" at the Modern is just another example of getting feet through the door on the back of celebrity, not art.
Bjork is clearly a pop star. Sure, at the edge, but not extreme. And her "retrospective" at the Modern is just another example of getting feet through the door on the back of celebrity, not art.
1
Each to their own.
I will never try to analyze Bjork's music. I only know that the mere thought of her work and persona never fail to give me pleasure, and make me think that this is a woman who is truly living out loud.
I will never try to analyze Bjork's music. I only know that the mere thought of her work and persona never fail to give me pleasure, and make me think that this is a woman who is truly living out loud.
37
Björk is much like Basquiat and Quantum Mechanics. If you don't like her or appreciate her, you just don't understand.
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Basquiat who truly was a genius and great artist has NEVER had a retrospective at MOMA? Why should Bjork? Total nonsense and "privilege"!
1
Who is Bjork??
4
I think the article explained who she was pretty succinctly. Nice attempt of an insult there, though.
25
Bjork Bjork was a well known tennis player who i think quit the game in his prime.
Glad to see he is doing well in his second career.
Glad to see he is doing well in his second career.
11
A retrospective at the MoMA? Yet one more reason to be disappointed in a once great museum.
16
Yes. At MoMa. She's an actual artist.
35
By that logic, all museums are now 'once great'.
13
Bjork has become a brand. That is why she is being exhibited like David Bowie at the Tate in Britain and MCA in Chicago.
6
Ég veit ekki - I say that as a fellow Icelander. Björk, ever since KUKL and the Sugarcubes has always managed to defy expectation and follow her own merry path. I salute her.
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1
I love that she has never won a Grammy, because it shows what an utter sham and fraud that "bag o'cash" system truly is. To ignore someone with a talent of that magnitude, a constant flow of visual and musical concepts that have beautifully evolved in her long, astonishing career.
Rather, a retrospective at MOMA puts her in the class (which, of course is the very top) she deserves. And leaves the "bag o'cash" types out in the cold.
Rather, a retrospective at MOMA puts her in the class (which, of course is the very top) she deserves. And leaves the "bag o'cash" types out in the cold.
63
She doesn't "deserve this"! There are many artists who have worked longer and harder and haven't been in such a "privileged" place WHO DESERVE a retrospective at MOMA. Let's be real! This is absurd!
Apparently the curators at MOMA don't agree with you.
Eat your heart out, Lady Gaga.
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Nah. Lady Gaga has had artistic pretensions, some clever, some pedestrian, some silly. But her music characterizes her as a pop performer through and through. She has courted the masses in a way that Bjork would never consider. They inhabit different cultural universes.
Besides, Lady Gaga is a wonderful singer who's holding up her end very well these days, touring with the grand master of the American Songbook, Tony Bennett. I doubt she spends much time envying Bjork, or anybody else for that matter.
Besides, Lady Gaga is a wonderful singer who's holding up her end very well these days, touring with the grand master of the American Songbook, Tony Bennett. I doubt she spends much time envying Bjork, or anybody else for that matter.
6
Lady Gaga used Bjork as her muse