Modern Art

Recently we've reached an acute awareness of the attraction that an apparently brilliant pubic figure culls by virtue of their visible persona. At first the strains of that enthrallment generate from the art or work of the maker, not entirely by their image. However, with but a few comely features and a charming turn of phrase or two, the artist can become a work of art himself. 

In some fashions, Wally has seemed to embrace that shift-from musician to a statuesque source of aesthetic musings. There's a not insignificant precedent for our lovely Mr. De Backer to occasionally display himself with surprising candor. Perhaps one image from a 2008 promotion for his three-piece ensemble The Basics is one of the most choice and unabashed representations of his apparent comfort with his physical self.

And indeed there's nothing distasteful about it. In fact, the notion of the artfully contraposto stance coupled with winsome humor is remarkably imaginative and tasteful. There's no more offense to be taken from this image than from a Michelangelo. 

I wonder, though, about the occasional meanderings of Wally himself when he mentions that he prefers not to be the central tendency of an image or film clip. In one interview, he mentions the motives that broke that cycle and permitted the simple focus of the video for the now ubiquitous "Somebody" single, stating that the nature of the song seemed too raw and personal to not make an appearance. To do so naked seems rationally linked to the emotionally stripped message of the song. That sequence of determinations made perfect sense, but what of the occasional polemic regarding the desire to redirect attention away from himself?

It seems veritably impossible to escape the reality that with fame comes recognition, comes constant thirst and demand for imagery of the famous. It is requisite within existence within the public awareness, even if begrudgingly. So, by virtue of further disseminating fame, Wally is faced with the challenge of his face becoming a social standby. Furthermore, as he becomes more photographed and fetishized, he becomes more objectified and sexualized. Although clearly he himself has been indirectly implicit in that sexualization, it is also a feature of the geography of youthful talent and prominence.

The glut of modern celebrities has become especially dismissable of late. Many of the faces that splatter the media are generically pleasant and entirely unoffensive. Most don an almost preternatural similarity to one another, and bedeck themselves with excess and opulence.

Then suddenly the contemporary popular music forum is punctuated with a willowy, pale, somewhat waggish musician who is not particularly young or aged, is not husked up with excess masculinity, and dresses no more gauche than the local barista. His viridian eyes are glittering and joyful, dimples and wrinkles and smile lines streak across his face, his neck curves out like a great blue heron. His grin is dippy and comical yet instantaneously lovable, with slightly off-set and fangish teeth glinting forth. His soft locks sweep, sometimes hectically, across his prominent brow. He is, from some angles, wholly unremarkable and pedestrian. From close inspection, when one considers his quirky yet charming features, the conclusion is quickly made that he is strangely splendid. Taken in consideration with his wit, his words and his music, it's no great mystery that he has begun to carve out a space as a source of praise and even fantasy, in some circles.

It can be said that when someone uniquely, even aberrantly appealing becomes a source of powerful emotional and psychological magnetism, that they become a work of art themselves. They may take on a level of idolatry similar to the likes of The David-as a symbol of unattainable yet simultaneously genuine and simple beauty. Although his tendencies veer further away from a heroic or Grecian image as a David, in some ways, Wally's iconoclastic beauty cuts through the boredom of traditional standards of male attractiveness. Furthermore, the comeliness of his nature is borne as much from his intelligence, sweetness, wit and talent as his physical self. He is something of a rarity, indeed-a painfully parsimonious balance of inner and outer resplendence. It cannot be denied that it is a joy to engage with that profound and lovely presence. 

Now back to work! ;}

c. P 2012