Extreme wealth

[32BT]

It's interesting, if you frequently visits sites like LuLa with above average creative contributors, you might end up in a bit of a filterbubble thinking it a good crosssection of the world at large. But probably in reality 90% of the people lack creative inspiration of any kind, and that is probably what shows here as well, because when you ask yourself: what good can i do with all this dough, for myself or others, would you end up in a fur coat?

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lauren-greenfield-generation-wealth-documentary-1321667

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

...would you end up in a fur coat?...

If you experienced Chicago winters, hell yeah

[Jeremy Roussak]

“I often look at the extremes to understand the mainstream,” says artist and photographer Lauren Greenfield.

That's drivel, which fatally undermines anything else she has to say (which, from the article, is pretty much negligible anyway).

Jeremy

[petermfiore]

“I often look at the extremes to understand the mainstream,” says artist and photographer Lauren Greenfield.

That's drivel, which fatally undermines anything else she has to say (which, from the article, is pretty much negligible anyway).

Jeremy

Jeremy
Your looking at that like a lawyer, Lauren is looking at it as an Artist.
Peter

[Rob C]

I remember my muse having a rather fetching shortie fur coat; I remember it because it was fun wearing it over my shoulders as she worked in the snow at my local park... what's good for Mick's probably good enough for me, too, sometimes.

Rather fancied myself in one, but the closest we got was a cast-off from my mother that suited my wife a lot better. Of course, this was all before the current shift in sensibilities... however, I can assure you that a fur is much warmer than a leather jacket that, sans fleece, is no bloody good at all as insulation from cold.

Those ladies from Edinburgh sure were onto something.

Don't we all feel so much better knowing that?

[petermfiore]

Don't we all feel so much better knowing that?

Rob,

Immensely... :~)

[Two23]

From the article:
“It does feel like we’re kind of hurtling toward the apocalypse,” Greenfield admitted, adding that Donald Trump’s election influenced the direction of the film. (Footage from the president’s campaign rallies and former reality show, The Apprentice, has been incorporated into the film.) “I wanted to show the culture that made him possible. He was the symptom of a diseased culture.”


No mention of the symptom of phoniness and deceit named "Hillary."  "Yin" does not exist without "yang."  I would probably watch the film if given a chance.  I did enjoy watching the "Queen of Versailles."  I sometimes felt that her intent was to make me envious of people with great wealth, but that missed its mark.  I'm happy with what I have and am enjoying life. 

"The man who knows enough is enough, will always have enough."
    Lao Tsu, 5th C. BC

[Rob C]

From the article:
“It does feel like we’re kind of hurtling toward the apocalypse,” Greenfield admitted, adding that Donald Trump’s election influenced the direction of the film. (Footage from the president’s campaign rallies and former reality show, The Apprentice, has been incorporated into the film.) “I wanted to show the culture that made him possible. He was the symptom of a diseased culture.”


No mention of the symptom of phoniness and deceit named "Hillary."  "Yin" does not exist without "yang."  I would probably watch the film if given a chance.  I did enjoy watching the "Queen of Versailles."  I sometimes felt that her intent was to make me envious of people with great wealth, but that missed its mark.  I'm happy with what I have and am enjoying life. 

"The man who knows enough is enough, will always have enough."
    Lao Tsu, 5th C. BC

Trouble is, that's retrospective knowledge.

When you are young, working, you have no idea what lies ahead, and unless an artist - a breed that often does not think too far ahead, being preoccupied with other powerful instincts than survival - then your instinct is to work to better the present and protect the future.

From the few über-rich I have kown - three dead, more to go - the survival game does not feature at all; it's pretty much assumed from birth. What seems to be the drive is to create business ahead, try to make more successful what exists or explore what new direction one might venture... in other words, the mindset is not one I could ever have felt mine. Of that handful I've know, none was of the type that gives offspring carte blanche and open Amex. One was lent the yacht for his honeymoon, but had to pay for the fuel for the speedboat tender... his (the young son's) working day was full looking after business, 7/7. They all seemed to be that way.

Maybe the difference is this: showbiz offspring don't often come from a family that worked building up business: they come from the equivalent of lottery winners. The work ethic isn't there, usually - how could it be? Hence, flash lives, drugs, waste on epic scale followed, possibly, by early death or bankruptcy.

Aphorism is great for writers - and politicians.

[NancyP]

The Greenfield work is interesting as a social document. Centuries from now, if we as a species live that long, theatrical (movie, VR) set and costume designers will be studying photographs like this for whatever plays are written about the New Gilded Age.

I look at the wretched excess and see people whose main preoccupation is buying stuff, the "best" stuff. Positively exhausting, being a Lady who Lunches, I would think. I have half-brothers who grew up idolizing Big Money, and one of them married a hedge fund heiress. Sounds positively like Edith Wharton novel.

[Telecaster]

From experience: there’s a spending threshold above which, if you choose to cross it, you can no longer buy things that free you up and instead must start buying things that tie you down. This threshold is lower than you likely imagine.

The wealthiest person I know lives with a lighter footprint than I do. My aim is to live more like him.

The public's fascination with wealth and fixation on the external trappings of wealth, as made manifest by its most extreme & obscene performance artists, is indeed IMO symptomatic of moral & spiritual disease.

-Dave-

[elliot_n]

“I often look at the extremes to understand the mainstream,” says artist and photographer Lauren Greenfield.

That's drivel, which fatally undermines anything else she has to say (which, from the article, is pretty much negligible anyway).

Jeremy

Bit harsh! Seems like a valid strategy to me.

[John Camp]

<snip>
The public's fascination with wealth and fixation on the external trappings of wealth, as made manifest by its most extreme & obscene performance artists, is indeed IMO symptomatic of moral & spiritual disease.
-Dave-

You know, I started as a postman's son and I'm now pretty affluent and will admit to occasional conservative tendencies when it comes to economics. I don't really think people worship money -- I know a billionaire, and he isn't worshipped. It's celebrity that's worshipped. I gotta say, the annual Met Ball is enough to drive one into the arms of the Trotskyites. I know, I know, good cause and all, but I watched the movie about it and I really couldn't believe that we would have that shlt in America. It looks like something Louis XIV might have thought up after a six-day drunk, and f*ck the peasants. It really sickened me.  I was clicking around on TV tonight and encountered an ad for some obscure movie star awards and there were hundreds of people there to scream. Those celebrities are f*ckin' **actors.** They do almost nothing worthwhile. We elected a f*ckin' actor to be President and his show even sucked. In our culture, people apparently believe that Tom Cruise can fly fighter jets and shoot down representatives of the Yellow Peril; that Hugh Jackman has claws made of adamantium, which doesn't even exist; that a dimwitted party girl like Princess Di is worthy of worship. WTF? IMHO, the most honest celebrity around is Kim Kardashian, who doesn't pretend to be anything other than what she is, a money-grubbing sensationalist who will sell her own ass to get on TV.

Pardon the rant; some things set me off.

[Telecaster]

You know, I started as a postman's son and I'm now pretty affluent and will admit to occasional conservative tendencies when it comes to economics. I don't really think people worship money -- I know a billionaire, and he isn't worshipped. It's celebrity that's worshipped.

Yes, you've said it more precisely than I did. In part I had in mind the TV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, though there I suppose it's less the money that attracts people than the lifestyle they imagine flows from the money. The "rich dude clichés," as a friend of mine puts it.

-Dave-

[Jeremy Roussak]

I don't really think people worship money -- I know a billionaire, and he isn't worshipped. It's celebrity that's worshipped.

While I don't disagree with your general thesis, and certainly not with your view of "celebrities", your first sentence confuses the worship of money with that of the people who have it.

Jeremy

[petermfiore]

While I don't disagree with your general thesis, and certainly not with your view of "celebrities", your first sentence confuses the worship of money with that of the people who have it.

Jeremy

Very true...many rich do worship the money.

Peter

[PeterAit]

Jeremy
Your looking at that like a lawyer, Lauren is looking at it as an Artist.
Peter

Right on, Peter.

[NancyP]

Why do the extremely wealthy have such bad taste? Clothes, art, interior decoration....  Yes, I know that the Greenfield subjects are not entirely representative, as many extremely wealthy people don't even want Architectural Digest to photo their digs.

[Rob C]

Why do the extremely wealthy have such bad taste? Clothes, art, interior decoration....  Yes, I know that the Greenfield subjects are not entirely representative, as many extremely wealthy people don't even want Architectural Digest to photo their digs.

Were I a celebrity of some kind, the last thing I'd do is invite the world's press to snoop around my home, yacht or whatever. The less temptation out there, the less free info. given thieves, kidnappers and sundry bad asses the better. They do due diligence too, you know.

Regarding the collected art: perhaps if the pix are being collected as investment, then the "guidance" of a gallerist may be very useful in ensuring that money gets made and not lost. Of all folks, they must have the best idea of where perceived values lie. So, you either send it straight into a safe place or you display it for a bit of pleasure and entertainment.

Clothes? I dress like a pauper except that my jeans, for at least since the 70s, have been exclusively Levis. If some people can get all their clothes made to fit, perhaps they might look better in them than if they bought off the peg as I have to do.

Interior decoration? Well, I suppose that in the USA some feel that looking European classic may smell of good taste; unless one has a lot of space, most of that colourful, heavy stuff looks awful. That said, as a relatively middle-class guy at the time, I did sell some good wooden furniture we had and swapped to the glass 'n' chrome stuff during the early 70s. It turned sour quite quickly. Today, if I ever get to sell my place in Spain, I intend to get a smaller pad and turn most of it into open plan, except for the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, of course, and furnish with as little as possible. Less junk means less cleaning, and even my modest abode of today takes me forever to clean when anyone is expected to come round. As I am a photographer, I have always tried to ensure our walls were basically white; my first studio sported a red ceiling in one room, but it looked stupid (it was 1966, after all), and home was always pretty much white...in Scotland one needed all the light one could get. And my snaps and calendars looked better against white.

Trouble is, the wealthy appear be in love with ornate wallpaper, so they start off at a massive disadvantage. Even if they eventually call in the troops and get it all painted white, the vile colours may vanish, but the textures, the textures...

:-)

[Jeremy Roussak]

Were I a celebrity of some kind, the last thing I'd do is invite the world's press to snoop around my home, yacht or whatever.

Ah, but Rob, the reason you aren't a celebrity of some kind (save in our own little community, of course), is that you don't have the wish to show off to the world's press.

And what a sensible chap you are!

Jeremy

[D Fuller]

Trouble is, the wealthy appear be in love with ornate wallpaper, so they start off at a massive disadvantage. Even if they eventually call in the troops and get it all painted white, the vile colours may vanish, but the textures, the textures...

:-)

Brilliantly observed, Rob!