AN ARTIST SHOULD BE PAID

Rahman Hak-Hagir
AN ARTIST SHOULD BE PAID (2014)

Limited 3 (+2 AP), numbered, signed and certified photo print on acrylic 120 x 120 cm

Photography:
Zeljka Suvajac

Camera & Setting:
Rahman Hak-Hagir

Performance:
Rahman Hak-Hagir
Wolgang Mozart

„A large number of todays famous artists had to deal with rejection, criticism, grief and/or poverty during their lifetime. Although a few eventually gained recognition during their life for their artistic contributions, most of them were under-appreciated and would never know the artistic legacy they would leave behind because it came only after they had passed on. However, many of these artists now live on forever as revered masters of their respective styles:

Claude Monet – As the founder of French Impressionism, Monet’s paintings usually dealt with landscape scenes in a moment. While his seminal work “Impression, Sunrise” is now studied and appreciated in art colleges around the world, it was widely derided by critics when it was first revealed. Monet received little but abuse from public and critics alike, who complained that the paintings were formless, unfinished, and ugly. He and his family endured abject poverty. By the 1880s, however, his paintings started selling.

Vincent Van Gogh – It is hard not to think of tragedy when considers the life of Vincent Van Gogh. If there was ever a fine line between madness and genius, Vincent Van Gogh crossed it quite early in his career. Without his time in insane asylums and self-inflicted ear mutilation, the world would have never had “The Starry Night” and “The Potato Eaters.” Despite his countless post-Impressionist chefs-d’oeuvres, Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime.

Paul Cezanne – Considered by many as the father of modern art, but Paul Cezanne was anything but common. Like El Greco, he made significant contributions to Cubism. Nevertheless, the Salon rejected Cézanne’s submissions every year from 1864 to 1869. Few significant artists ever had less success. In addition, Cezanne’s personal life was marked by tensions that sharpened his sensitivity to relationships. A mere one year after his death, he was inducted in the famed Salon d’Automne and given the recognition he rightfully deserved.

Edouard Manet – There is probably no one on this list that was more frustrated by not receiving recognition than Manet. We can see him rebel in works like “Olympia” and “The Luncheon on the Grass” where he turned conservative French society topsy-turvy with the bold use of nudity. Rejected by the Salon, and later excluded from the International exhibition of 1867, Manet then set up his own exhibition that earned poor reviews from the major critics.“

Rahman Hak-Hagir
AN ARTIST SHOULD BE PAID

Video Performance (1:25 mins)

Camera & Setting:
Rahman Hak-Hagir

Performers:
Rahman Hak-Hagir, Wolgang Mozart

Set Assistant:
Zeljka Suvajac