Art N' About

Author: JOYCE MAN

Leave it to a Chinese person to do it: artistic outsourcing. This is exactly what one Shanghai artist, Zhou Tiehai is going for. The concept is simple: Zhou thinks up the ideas, then his minions, who are expensive and well-trained artists in their own right, carry out his every whim. His portfolio, if you can call it that, consists of over-sized images of Joe camel, that quintessential cigarette packet cartoon, who is superimposed onto semi-fantastical, classical European paintings. Joe Camel as Venus? You got it. Joe Camel in period army get-up? Sure.

And now for that age-old question: is it authentic art? Here is a guy who poses in front of "his" artwork like Jesus, arms spread out, for the New York Times. And quite literally, that's all he has to do and he'll have full lordship over the results. The buyers don't seem to mind that the author isn't really the author, and neither do the critics. Zhou's works go for $100,000 and have been featured at the Venice Biennale. Well, what can I say? Go Zhou Camel.

Here's another case closer to home: Kaavya Viswanathan, Harvard sophomore cum dubious author of the current chic-lit novel under fire, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life." Her work of fiction has been simultaneously accused of plagiarizing Sophie Kinsella, Megan McCafferty and - the sin of all sins - Salman Rushdie. But beyond all the intellectual property hoo-ha, what is happening is not the regretful unraveling of a young, aspiring author. After all, one can barely imagine the esteem that can grow out of badly-titled chic-lit. No, the fate coming before Viswanathan is much more brilliant and, I would argue, much more artistic - she has become famous. And, in the tough world of struggling artists, that is the stepping stone to the holy grail - notoriety. Has anyone seen her press photos? That's right. Ms. Viswanathan is smiling.

Zhou and Viswanathan are an ocean apart, but they seem to be part of the same trend. Jeff Koons was able to shock the critics without lifting a single finger, but Zhou Camel and Ms. Chic-Lit have taken it to another, more troubling level. The Arts, more than any other industry, is one where the fame of the author can do many more wonders for the worth of the work than the art itself. As a result, the artist will pursue fine fame before fine art. That, actually, is exactly what Zhou tries to criticize in his parodies. According to him, contemporary Chinese artists have shed their ancient calligraphic skills and no longer know how to paint. But they do know how to sell.

These artists aren't just detaching from the old requisites of fine art - they have actually detached completely from their art with a hands-off approach, and they've received fame by doing it. The creative enterprise, it seems, has become just simply an enterprise.