Film: Art School Confidential

Wandering around the local video store last night I came across the film Art School Confidential. I hadn’t heard of it prior to last night — which isn’t much of a surprise — and it sounded like something I should see.

The plot focuses on a character who leaves the suburbs and heads into the city to the Strathmore Institute in New York. His classical ideas about art and his sheltered upbringing are challenged in the institute, where anything goes.

I like how the film plays with so many stereotypes about art and artists, and it does a fairly good job of showing how absurd they are. A former student who’s hit the big time says in an interview, “In order to be a great artist, you simply have to be a great artist. There’s nothing to learn. So you’re all wasting your time. Go home.” This is a succinct commentary on the idea of “artist-as-genius” so pervasive in the twentieth century.

The characters exploit just about every generalization on art students you can imagine. One character in particular is most annoying, speaking in extraordinary, high-falutent, artsy-fartsy terminology (further commentary on “artist-as-genius”). In one scene, he actually elaborates on a stereotype I was formerly unfamiliar with: “Most artists become artists because quite simply they have no other way to attract a mate.” I thought this idea was more closely tied to Bible schools (also known as “bridal schools”).

As some others have pointed out, the plot isn’t very strong, dancing around and between a few too many ideas. The film does seem to lose focus on a few occasions.

Further, the crass sexual references and never-ending F-bombs made the show difficult to stomach at times. The film deserves its “R” rating (although I don’t put much if any stock into this system anymore), and the superfluous use of the aforementioned sexual and constantly coarse language weakened the film considerably.

My own experience studying art at a public university was much different than this, although some aspects of art schooling presented in the film were definitely present. And while I didn’t mind the stereotyping of art students, I did not like how the professors were portrayed. There were little or no redeeming qualities in the staff at Strathmore.

If not for these, I might recommend the movie to more people. Regardless, it’s not something a lot of people will easily understand in my opinion without some prior knowledge or experience in modern art circles.