study task 3

The Chapman Brothers 'Sad Presentiments' 

After reading Walter Benjamin's essay 'the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction', I feel that this image by the Chapman Brothers relates a lot to the point Benjamin makes. The Chapman Brothers bought the series of Goya's etchings - 'The Disasters of War', and painted over each one with clown faces or other similar imagery. The etchings were classed as treasured pieces as there aren't that many of his original about, so to paint over them was considered by a lot of people as vandalism. 

Benjamin talks about the 'aura' of artwork, that 'that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art', meaning that the fact that the artwork is an original makes it special, it gives the viewer a whole other experience for the viewer. Goya's piece is definitely artwork that contains this 'aura'; especially as it is an etching which is a traditional print process that is very time consuming, and therefore usually only produces a limited number of prints - so it is a piece that is deemed at 'high artwork'. The Chapman Brothers have taken it and, in their words, 'rectified' it; making it something much less prestigious, it makes it more accessible for people as it has taken something with very serious connotations and added dark humour to it. 

Also, the fact that they have then let out multiple prints of their reproduction of Goya's artwork takes the 'aura' away even more as 'the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition', if there are loads of reproductions of an art piece then the piece seems less special because everyone has access to it. Although, you could say that having many prints from the original doesn't take away from the uniqueness of the original painting because a print out doesn't compare with an original painting. 

Benjamin promotes the idea of moving into the digital age, allowing art to be something accessible to all by dismantling the 'aura' that comes with it - he wanted to get rid of the pre-conception we hold to art in galleries as something that is much better than us and kick start the 'shattering of tradition'. I think the Chapman Brothers are trying to achieve a similar thing, it was said that they 'managed to raise hackles of art historians by violating something much more sacred to the art world than a human body - another work of art'. 

However, the Chapman Brothers then exhibited all this work in prestigious galleries like the Saachi, which sort of defeats the point Benjamin was trying to make saying that galleries are what put artwork on platforms with their 'aura'. 

BENJAMIN, W (1936) 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' [online] https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm [Accessed: 15th November]

Dorment, R (2003) 'Inspired Vandalism' The Telegraph [Accessed 15th November]