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Taken from The Ottawa Citizen



The 'artist' who has Rideau Hall on guard
When Istvan Kantor comes here to collect his $15,000 Governor General's Award, he'll be under the watch of security guards. They want to make sure he doesn't leave another X-shaped 'gift' of his own blood.

Paul Gessell
The Ottawa Citizen


March 4, 2004





When Toronto artist Istvan Kantor comes to town, he has been known to mark a large "X" on the walls with his own blood. On other occasions, he inserts a vial of his blood into his anus, assumes an upside-down lotus position and lets the blood flow into his mouth. He has prepared and served food containing human blood. And then there are the masturbation performances.

So, needless to say, Rideau Hall and the National Gallery of Canada are nervous about Mr. Kantor's planned visit to Ottawa on March 10 to pick up the country's top art prize for a quarter-century of producing some of the most shocking and demonic (some might say disgusting and repellent) art in the world.

The Hungarian-born Mr. Kantor is one of seven artists receiving this year's $15,000 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. Mr. Kantor is the only one of the seven who has been permanently banned from entering the National Gallery for decorating a wall there with one of his self-described X-shaped "gifts" of blood in 1991. However, he has been given special dispensation to attend a group exhibition at the gallery, opening March 12, of works by him and the other award recipients.

"They will let me in, but I will be under the surveillance of two security guards," the artist said in a recent telephone interview. (The gallery confirmed the arrangements).

Mr. Kantor can expect similar treatment at Rideau Hall when Adrienne Clarkson hands him his cheque March 10, even though Mr. Kantor says he has no "special plans" to leave a bloody "X" or other "gift" at the Governor General's residence. Parliamentary security guards will no doubt also be on alert when Mr. Kantor and the other six recipients are presented to the House of Commons on March 11.

"Although I did an 'X' recently at the Power Plant (a Toronto gallery), I don't do it as often as I used to."

The Governor General has no voice in deciding who will win the visual arts awards, which honour a body of work or a lifetime of work rather than individual works. The recipients are picked by a jury of artists and art experts selected each year by the Canada Council for the Arts. This year's jury included artists Micheline Beauchemin, Evergon, Edward Poitras, Tom Sherman and Takao Tanabe and arts consultant Ian Lumsden.

Mr. Kantor could be described as an art anarchist, or perhaps a guerrilla artist. He is certainly the first to admit that receiving the ultimate establishment art award is "contradictory" for someone who has made a career of protesting against the establishment, especially the art establishment, with his bloody "X"s on the walls of prominent galleries in North America and Europe.

"It's pretty contradictory, I guess, but it gives me a good occasion to talk about my work, so that is very good," Mr. Kantor said. "It won't change my work. It's just now I can reach a large group of people."

Mr. Kantor is a multi-disciplinary artist. His performance pieces are the most notorious. But his award, he says, is most likely for his work in video, robotics and new media.

Mr. Kantor estimates he has been arrested at least a dozen times. He is usually charged with public mischief. He says he has been branded a "subversive" by the United States government, has several convictions there and, especially since 9/11, has had problems entering that country.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York was particularily distressed in 1988 when Mr. Kantor splashed some of his blood on a Picasso painting. He claims he was just trying to do one of his "X"s. He was initially charged with causing $10 million in damage. After two years of court battles he was merely fined $1,000.

So, what is Mr. Kantor's art really all about?

"My philosophy is based on the equation that life equals art equals life. It's not really a scientific equation but it's useful. Everything is art; everybody is an artist. The greatest art is the people in the streets, the beggars, the prostitutes, the people in the offices, executives and secretaries."

That's a far more detailed explanation than Mr. Kantor normally offers when asked to define the art "movement" he created called "neoism." Here is how he replied to such questions in a recent interview with the weekly publication Montreal Mirror: "Well, no one is supposed to know what neoism is and I don't think anybody does, including myself. The success of neoism is basically in the question, 'What is neoism?' because everybody wants to know. There are millions of definitions and none of them are good for anything. But you could define it by saying neoism is what makes neoism more interesting than neoism. Or you could say that neoism is that which makes neoism obsolete."

Ottawa art lovers will have a chance to experience one of Mr. Kantor's videos, Jericho, beginning March 12 at the National Gallery's group exhibition of works by the seven award recipients. Jericho is owned by the National Gallery and, thus, is deemed to be one of Canada's art treasures.

Most of the 17-minute video contains wildly flashing images of Mr. Kantor in various costumes, ranging from a prisoner to a Ku Klux Klansman, screaming obscenity-laden, anarchistic slogans. In one segment entitled Testimony, a semi-nude Mr. Kantor is seen on his back, his knees to his chest, spinning in circles. A megaphone appears to be inserted into his rectum. "I am nothing; nothing to say," Mr. Kantor, or at least his bowel, repeatedly screeches.

In announcing the visual arts recipients this year, the Canada Council distributed essays written on each of the winners. The essay on Mr. Kantor was prepared by Daniel Baird, art editor of the New York magazine The Brooklyn Rail.

"The intent of Kantor's work has always been to disrupt closed systems of power, political and aesthetic, to lay bare the ways in which technology transforms human bodies and minds into elements of a vast robotic machine and to confront today's deadening systems of technological control," Mr. Baird wrote.

"Mr. Kantor's early neoist apartment festivals in Montreal were week-long, live-in collective events which included smashing furniture, performances, irruptions of music and meals cooked from a mixture of the participants' own blood."

Mr. Baird described Mr. Kantor's 1980 performance piece entitled Liaison Inter-Urbain this way: "He dug a shallow grave, inserted a vial of his blood into his anus, and contorted himself upside-down so that the blood flowed into his mouth." Mr. Kantor wants such performances to be seen as part of the cycle of life.

Images of Mr. Kantor on the Internet and in publications show him, at times, wearing a conservative business suit and, at times, with nothing but a robotic sex device attached to his privates. So, what will he wear to Rideau Hall?

The Governor General's people, he said, suggested he wear a tuxedo. He is considering wearing one that belonged to his grandfather. But, he adds, he loves the element of surprise and so, he might wear something less conventional.

"It's always a performance for me, of course."

- - -

I'll start by saying I'm no art aficionado. I have a hard time understanding Mr. Kantor's message, and judging from cryptic quotes like "neoism is what makes neoism more interesting than neoism" I don't think Kantor knows what his message is either, or if he does, he's not sharing.
The line between art and shameless attention grabbing is a very blurry one, to say the least. I suppose the artist has done his job by giving me something to ponder and discuss, but should Kantor be given a $15,000 award for sticking vials of blood up his ass? Seeing as how some of that government money came out of my paycheque, I vote no.

Some shots from one of Kantor's performances can be found here. (NSFW)

DEI37

Good grief, what is up with that? If I could make $15,000 for that, I'd do it, but wow...that is NOT art.

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CrazySaturn

Hell no he shouldn't. There's a big fat line between art and perverse fetishes.

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Karby

that's not art.
that's one sick dude.

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present_future

I agree completely. This kind of stuff is what a lot of people get put into institutions for, and he's making money off of it.

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Spartak

Yes, this guy is great, give him money. I guess his work fits under the "its not art until you call it art" concept. Never the less I think the stuff he does is kinda cool.

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StormBerlin

Obviously someone thinks it's art, or he wouldn't be getting an award for it. Just let him do his thing.

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Jam

thats fucking bullshit i hate this... this is what they take my money for... fuck atleast in america its a big corporation and not some twisted fuck... now i understand why they have taxes... stupid fucking governor general

TopRamen66

Christ, I think the guys nuts! I dont think he should get much of anything.

hannukah harry

i'm all for him getting the award. he may be pushing, well, breaking barriers of normalcy and taste, but isnt' that one of the purposes of art?

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mastboyx

well art is one big old concept tha we will never fully understand so yeah maybe he is creating art and yes maybe in the future he will be recognized as an artist, right? but the thing i do fully understand is what i like and dont so i dont like him

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Fremen

He must have been one hell of a finger-painter in Kindergarten.

Give him the money. He's not out killing people.

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Scipio

Geez, artists got done painting pretty pictures 100 years ago. They were doing things we'd think were repulsive 50 years ago. And we're surprised that this is what it's come to?

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tehblaed

Who the fuck are you to judge what is and is not art?

onetime2

That statement could be applied to those giving the grant money as well, no?

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spived2

I don't see why a lot of you guys get angry about this. Someone obviously had to consider it art for him to be getting awards for it. Don't be jelous because you didn't think of it first

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"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

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filtherton

And to think, i usually just flush all my "art" down the toilet when i'm done with it. Maybe i should save it and try to find some money that needs to be parted from its fool.

Evil Milkman

That's gotta be the best thing I've read on the Internet for a while.

Holo

He should join up with Marilyn Manson, even tho he's less talented. I'm going to say no to the artist part. He just another one of those fuckers who figured out a way to get ppl to buy dumb shit anyone could throw together.


/me waits for Mephisto to say his piece.

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splck

Our governor general likes to blow money like crazy. Ask any Canadian.

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nice line eh?

Xell101

I will never support him.

Conclamo Ludus

Its obviously a very poignant statement about our society. I'm going to go take a 15,000 dollar shit and tack it on the wall.

It's art, and that's great, but this guy shouldn't be given taxpayer money. If someone thinks its art, and they like it, they can hand him all the money they want.

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CrazySaturn

All of you who are saying this is art just because no one thought of it before and it's something new, would you then give me a reward for self mutiliating and taking pics of my scars? What about killing thousands of random animals, torturing them, and displaying their remains? How about if I found someone suicidal and, with their consent, cut their skin into the shapes of the country's, continents, and oceans, and made a big map of the world, wrapping it around a ball to be a world map?
Just how far does it go?

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tehblaed

As far as anyone wants to take it, in all honesty. I'm a photographer and am dying for a gruesome subject, so if self-mutilation is your thing, I'll take pictures of it.

Jam

its not wether its art or not... its that its canadian tax money thier giving to a twisted fuck that irritates me he isnt even canadian

TheShadow

I'm in agreement with this. As well, to add onto it, anything to do with the corrupt, money-stealing, self-absorbed Governer General [Who should be in jail for the number of millions of dollars that she's stolen from the public for her 60 person-entourage to other countries] shouldn't exist.

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H12

That alone is enough reason for me to be 110% against him getting a dime. The guy shouldn't be rewarded $15,000; the "controversial artist" should be placed in the nuthouse. He's a threat to himself and possibly others (serving food with numerous people's blood, and I doubt the blood was tested for anything beforehand).

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2kids1headache

I don't really feel that his work is "right" or "wrong"; I just fail to understand why the man feels he should do these things. (I like the splashing of blood all over the walls, though.) It's hard to get anything out of the "art" if you can't understand the feelings behind it, and I can't even tell what those feelings are. If he told me he did it all to watch the reactions of the people around him and laugh to himself, then I'd be all for it.

As for the $15k, I'm just glad it's not my money.

PulpMind

I looked at the link of the art... I'm not horribly impressed, but I find what he's doing alot more interesting than many other performance or visual artists.

and seeing that at least 75% of the people are opposed to this guy's art (even on this "open minded" message board), I'm all for him getting the money. hell yes.

Halx

When asked why I am am studying abnormal psychology (you know.. psychos) I reply.. because abnormality is interesting.

This is very interesting. And very abnormal.

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...

I know someone who would becum a billionare if he got paid for masturbating.

water_boy1999

What this article is failing to recognize is the fact that he is being recognized for over a quarter century of artwork....they want to pull at your strings a bit by giving the impression he is getting $15,000 for his blood x's and sticking a vial up his ass. I don't think this is why he is receiving the award.

I personally don't think this is artwork. It is a cry for help, or a cry for attention. I live with two artists and there are a LOT of boundaries that have grey areas for them. Artists sometimes feel that whatever they create is art and NOT a reflection of some point they are trying to make.

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mystmarimatt

That's rather peculiar. I guess I'd want to see a more full spectrum of his artwork before judging whether or not he deserves the award. The fact that they are nervous about what he might do almost proves that those kinds of things are NOT why he's recieving the award.

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If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane.

DelayedReaction

He certainly deserves the award for being controversial. I wonder where the line is between being rewarded for doing this kind of thing, and being put into the crazy house?

We could get a lot of interest art out of crazy people.

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