TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1008281
skill. He is candidly incredulous about the value of abstract works by the likes of Jean-Michel Bas- quiat, who posthumously set a record of $110.5 million for a work by a U.S. artist sold at auction. "Some of his pieces, they're just a scribble," he marvels. "How did that come about? That some- body should pay that money, it's just extraordi- nary. I was at Christie's for a reception a while ago and there was a Picasso. Now I do think he was a genius. But I am convinced that he was taking the piss a lot of the time, absolutely convinced. There was this massive canvas, and it was something that just didn't require any skill. I'm sure he was thinking: 'Look, I can do anything—and people will pay millions for it.' "Even if you don't like something, I do believe it has to show a level of skill. Maybe I'm wrong. But that is something I take pride in, that you're not just splashing paint around. Because I just think the more skill you have, the freer you are. You can do anything. If you have the skill, you can break the rules. Yet Tracey Emin is a Professor of Draw- ing at the Royal Academy (of Arts) and she can't draw! It's ridiculous. How do you explain that? But Skeaping—by God, he could draw." To a degree, perhaps, there is even something analogous between Blacker's endeavours to sum- mon the essence of a horse as both rider and sculptor. Each calling, after all, requires a seam- less connection. "There are certain people who, without neces- sarily knowing it, have an artistry to them," he re- flects. "John Francome was an artist; and Richard Hughes, there was something so poetic about his riding. I think it boils down to a harmony. To my idea, sculpture or painting only really works if it