Innovation & Interference - Artist Research, Steve McQueen

Steven "Steve" McQueen CBE is an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and video artist.

Steve McQueen made impressive use of silence in his video artworks of the 1990s, so it was a surprise for visitors to the 2002 edition of Documenta, the once-every-five-years German show considered the art world’s most prestigious exhibition, to display a McQueen video that used sound to a disturbing, almost deafening effect. Western Deep (2002), one of his first coloured films, McQueen descended into the world’s deepest gold mine; the 3.9km-deep TauTona Mine, in Gauteng Province, South Africa with a Super 8 camera, capturing the claustrophobic conditions in which workers extracted valuable metals.

I was also recommended a piece of work by Steve McQueen where he directed a music video for Kanye West. In the video, Kanye is alone with only the camera following him around a room. This is one of McQueens more contemporary pieces of work and is a piece that really speaks volume to me. In the video Kayne is in his element, rapping his song to camera a.k.a, the gaze. Whilst this is happening, the gaze is trying to break away from Kanye as if it doesn't want anything to do with him or his work. Kanye keeps skipping around the camera trying to get in the limelight whilst the gaze is turning away, trying to lose eye contact. To me this symbolises the early stage of Kanye's career or any young and upcoming rapper for that matter. It shows that he is trying to be seen, to get noticed, be found and catch the eye of the gaze which metaphorically is us as the mainstream consumers.

Halfway through the video the Kanye seems to get tired and ends up with his back to a corner. The gaze takes advantage of this and now instead of shying away, is very close to Kanye's face, as if it doesn't want to give him any breathing space. This part of the video seems to symbolise the uprise of Kanye's rapping career when he started to make a name for himself on the music scene. The gaze has also now become a nuisance to Kanye as I believe it plays the role of paparazzi cameras constantly in his face when he is tired and  burnt out. It pesters him and becomes a burden to his everyday life which is why he seems so spaced out in this part of the video.

The final part of the video to me seems like the current stage of Kanye's career. He has managed to catch the attention of the mainstream media so much so that he is now in a state where even when he is at his lowest point, there are still people watching him from a distance, hoping for him to slip up and paint himself in a bad light. The gaze portrays this in a unique way. Kanye is slumped against the wall in an extremely vulnerable state which to me symbolises how he may be acting once he is in his own home, supposedly safe from the cameras and attention. Having said this, whilst Kanye is sat, the gaze remains on him but backs away slowly, possibly suggesting that even though Kanye is behind closed doors in his own private space, we are all still keeping sight on him, waiting to see what he does next.