The Art Guys
[ARTISTS]
“It’s been driven into our heads that a piece of art is something that’s commodified and gets handed down through the ages. But that’s not what art is.”
Issues associated with selling one’s own good name:
The possible de-authentication of self
The need to come up with a new name
Smoke, ashes, and what remains
Over-valuation

As it happens, this conversation between me and the Art Guys—Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing, the two renowned Houston-based art jesters (b. 1956 and 1959, respectively) who’ve been giving over their lives to an especially distinctive brand of serious play for nearly three decades now—occurred before last November’s notorious Tree Wedding incident. Or rather, it was after this very conversation that the Guys asked me to co-officiate at the ceremony in question, which I agreed to do, but only on condition that I could do so in my perennial role as would-be rabbi…

Read the interview (subscription required): http://www.believermag.com/issues/201210/?read=interview_theartguys

 

---

[Download a PDF of the interview]