ART THOUGHTZ with Hennessy Youngman: On Beauty

2011, 5:11 min, color, sound, HD video

Art Thoughtz with Hennessy Youngman is an episodic, Internet-based talk show in which Musson performs in the guise of hip-hop "art critic" Hennessy Youngman. In a series of short, talking-head monologues, Youngman offers aspiring artists his irreverent views on the contemporary art world, from relational aesthetics and performance art to how to be a successful black artist. Musson uses hip-hop vernacular to critique the exclusionary language of art discourse, hilariously pitting hip-hop and art world idioms against each other in a dual parody of cultural clichés. (Hennessy Youngman's name references both the comedian Henny Youngman, who was famous for his one-liners, and Hennessy cognac, a status liquor in the hip-hop world.) With the Art Thoughtz series, Musson uses YouTube as a platform to expand his audience beyond art institutions and the art world; the series has become a viral video phenomenon.

Hennessy Youngman: "Gyeah! Hello once again Internet, today I wanted to talk about something that is very essential to art and that thing is beauty. Is beauty still relevant in our future age where information is mad valuable and neoliberalism is the number one pop tune that seems like it will always be playing every time you turn on the radio forever into infinity? Well I don't got answers to these questions, but that don't stop me from enwisening ya'll to this shit! Let's go!"

 
 

This work is HD video and must be shown with an HD display.
High-Definition Video Guide

 

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