The Art Bastard Show – Review

3rd July 2016

Director: Chris Lewort, Producer: Keira Freeman, Art Director: Leah Heming

“The Art Bastard Show is a groundbreaking documentary. It follows the quest to unite Bristol’s highest profile artists, brought together for the city’s most ambitious exhibition to date.”

We need to talk about Banksy. Well no, we don’t, but it’s hard not to think about Exit Through the Gift Shop while watching The Art Bastard Show, because they seem to have the same motive: To mock the art world. Exit Through the Gift Shop was an attack on an art establishment that takes itself too seriously, plucking talented or edgy artists from relative obscurity and anointing them “The Next Big Thing”. The Art Bastard Show does the very same thing, but doesn’t stop at the establishment, it attacks the middle-ground and the fringe alike: fine artists, folksy twee ones, graffiti artists, London art gurus, galleries and art directors. So much so that it’s difficult to see the point of it. Is this simply a bitter reaction to being rejected by a big gallery?

The difference between Gift Shop and Bastard is exactly the difference between the first and second series of Look Around You (essential viewing). The first was played straight and perfect for it. The subjects are unaware of how funny they are. The second (as in The Art Bastard Show) was self-conscious about the joke and more prone to falling flat. The audience is rarely helped by the actor winking at the camera. Yes pal, we get it, don’t bust down the fourth wall for that.

Lewort et al have clearly been influenced by Chris Morris – The Day Today era: aiming to stick a pin in a few egos as well as observing people at their most ridiculous. On that note, Art Bastard may have benefitted from interviews with figures from the art establishment (see also Philomena Cunk).

So here’s my advice: To gain maximum enjoyment from The Art Bastard Show, watch it before anything mentioned above. If you have already seen them, keep your expectations low and its merits might stand out – Look up the artists on Twitter if you want to get into the swing of it. The production is great and the establishment deserves a ribbing, of course. It prompted a couple of laughs, so it’s not a flop, and hopefully Lewort will maximise on that for the next production.

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