Don't f*** with the Hiltons: a lesson in artistic influence

The Paris Hilton campaign ad is the coolest work of public art related to the presidential campaign process this year.

In an art historical view of the world, patrons of the arts come in all shapes and sizes. But we tend to look back at art that the entire public could be exposed to. This art is generally patronized by Popes, monks, wealthy bankers, Sun Kings, emperors, pharoahs, etc. Rich people. Not presidential candidates in debt. A political campaign may or may not be a work of art. But any public statement can be subject to artistic criticism. Public art is not a force to be reckoned with, and Paris Hilton has just made herself a great art patron of our day.

My fellow Northeastern Corridorians are shocked to see the political world's Hollywood scapegoat actually show up with a presidential campaign video in response to John McCain's derogatory "celebrity" campaign video. Art Guy loves it and isn't terribly surprised. The Hiltons are rich and powerful, and Paris is a prolific Hollywood Star. The medium is "joke presidential campaign ad." Video is her bag. Who knows how many directors, script writers, and comedians she networks with. Probably more than Senator John McCain.

I've seen these jerks beat up on Hollywood icons in political contexts all the time. From the tired "Governator" name-calling of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the cheap-shot interview of Britney Spears in Micheal Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11, it's old and it's low, and Art Guy in Jeans is sick of it. First reaction to Paris Hilton is, you've done a great thing and set a great precedent.

The lesson here is pretty simple. Don't mess with powerful people. This is no doubt humiliating to John McCain's campaign, and there's no way for him to twist it for the good. Paris's campaign ad is more intelligent than his. I'm not just talking about Paris's "energy crisis" speech which had me rolling on the floor. I'm talking about the intelligence of the choice to do it. No matter how much help she had in making the video, it's her video. She's the artist with the workshop.

Art Guy in Jeans says insults are hurtful. The political ad campaigns this year are generally unintelligent, and McCain's was the lowest yet. Powerful Paris Hilton is an icon in her lawn chair and bathing suit, an artistic symbol that politicians aren't the center of the world.

10 Favorite Italian Artists Profile: Giovanni da Milano

Here was a high point in interest, technique, and style that fed Florentine Art of the 14th century. We're talking circa 1360 here. Others might call this a low point; Art Guy in Jeans understands it to be a high point.

It's not soon after the Black Death, so whether or not you agree that the Black Death caused a conscious revival of 13th century "medieval art," you can at least admit that Florence was changing and there had been turmoil caused by the 1348 epidemic. Was Giovanni da Milano's new style - rejection of linear perspective, usage of unnatural color, and separation of God from the earthly realm- an epidemic in painting? It spread like mad. Orcagna was doing it, Francesco Traini was doing it, it was the most popular style of the time. It involved de-naturalizing the art and depicting God as a terrifying heavenly being.

Maybe they couldn't do any better? That's a lousy explanation. It just doesn't hold water. Giovanni da Milano is my hero because he clearly COULD paint naturalistically. Art Guy has two stunning examples: A face of Christ on the ceiling of the Rinuccini Chapel (Santa Croce) and a Virgin and Child that quakes with emotion in the Accademia. (Yeah, you have to go upstairs to see it.) These two works are clear progressions of the naturalistic revolution that started with the Pisanos and Giotto and were carried on towards perspectival rendering and vivid facial individualism with the Lorenzettis and Martini. Milano could do it.

For his big fresco commissions, however, he did no such thing. Using the same composition as Taddeo Gaddi's "Life of the Virgin" cycle in the same church, Milano gives Santa Croce's Rinuccini Chapel a dark-fairy-tale edge. The compositions are jagged and highly unnatural. The houses are depicted in such a way as to frame the figures rather than retreat realistically into space. The figures are tall, rigid, and above all, angry. It's not fun watching Joachim get expelled from the temple - every figure stares at him disapprovingly from within the dungeonous temple while he cowers and soaks in shame. Art Guy in Jeans gets chills when he looks at this stuff.

Our hero really digs this Giovanni da Milano guy even though he hasn't seen a whole lot of his work. The stuff our hero has seen is near perfect. Milano is of a breed of artist who could shift their style elegantly for the purposes of specific patrons - and with bone-crushing authority and conviction!