Boi Yezzus is an Artist

Is This Art blog
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

The working title for this was “Boi Yezzus is an artist.” I’ll admit I got the inspiration listening to some of his older tracks after a few glasses of wine, but it does set the tone for what I’ve dug up. Kanye West is just as much an artist as Warhol, or Koons. If you follow celebrity culture in any way you’ve heard of him. In between making controversial headlines and dropping new projects with some big names, kanye embraces an artist lifestyle. If Warhol were alive he’d love Kanye, he’s wild, famous, and loves himself more than anything. A lot like Warhol himself, or his best friend… Basquiat.

I’m not saying Yeezy is our Basquiat, but they do have many qualities in common. Basquiat was known to have mental breakdowns, and go off the deep end. Kanye calls it his superstar in his latest album “YE”. Basquiat spent time homeless, and quit his only normal job after only one day. He could never imagine doing anything else with his life. Both artist are also dropouts, Basquiat from high school, West from Chicago American Academy of Art. Before Kanye famously dropped out he was studying to be a painter. You can only imagine what he would be like as a painter! Although, his design skills didn’t go to waste, he created a fashion line with one of the designers on his team becoming a designer for Louis Vuitton. He also has a shoe line with Adidas. This is not very unlike Dali who started to design jewelry and like Kanye the prices for these fashion statements were extraordinary . Both Dali and West used their wild antics to keep attention and capitalized on it. They also aren’t the only ones to that design high fashion in the name of art.

Tashiki Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist that’s had a fair amount of success. Murakami is also blurring the lines between high end and low end art. Not only did he design for Louis Vuitton he had a store in the middle of his show at the Brooklyn Museum he claimed that this was his version of Duchamp’s Fountain, meaning he felt he was a pioneer in art. Murakami’s name should sound familiar, do you remember the bear with the shutter shades from Kanye’s Graduation? That was designed by Murakami, the album art is hanging in the Gagosian, and he also created the music video for Good Morning. One of Kanye’s most iconic songs came from this album also. Kanye West’s Stronger he sampled Daft Punk, just like many painters appropriate with the greats before them. Kanye even compared his style to Warhols saying “the way Warhol would appropriate a Campbell’s Soup can is the way I would sonically appropriate a Ray Charles sample or a Michael Jackson sample.” Some would say Kanye is full of himself and comparing himself to Warhol is over ambitious, but Dali openly admitted he was the greatest painter of his time, Picasso was notoriously full of himself, and even now Damien Hirst is known for his superstar persona.

Kanye’s artistic genius doesn’t just end there. In 2010 he released a 35 minute film for his song Runaway which he directed. He’s not the first or last rapper to direct his own music video, but few will match the level of Runaway. If the purpose of modern art is self expression I think Kanye has mastered it.This summer he released 4 albums in 4 weeks, a speed in which Warhol would be impressed, and all of these had him expressing himself in some way. Most rappers can express them self through some lyrics over a melody, but Kanye does so much more. He builds stars like the great Warhol himself, he’s created a short film, designed a successful clothing line which he launched with a performance piece, and has much more up his sleeve. In hip hop circles people have their five, it’s who they think the five greatest rappers of all time, goat. Kanye might not make most goat list, but he definitely deserves to be on your list of major living artist.