All Your Favorite Celebrities Are Artists Now. Are Any of Them Good?

Why is it so difficult for well-known figures in culture—actors, musicians, film directors, models, novelists—to be taken seriously as visual artists? To be fair, most artists, even those who show at galleries, never get taken seriously by the public—they don’t get taken at all by the public, for the most part. They just exist in semi-obscurity. Why would the law of averages be any different for a sample size of artists who just happen to be famous? Some artists are good, some are bad, some are fine but not especially memorable. The same spectrum would therefore exist for artists who have a day job—one that just happens to make them recognizable figures.

We should add that a gallery might be just a little bit more inclined to give a famous person a show than your typical first-solo-show artist. Sure, it’s a double-edged sword—you might lose credibility if the work itself is bad—but there’s always the chance to get some organic buzz, maybe even some press.

Recently there seems to be a critical mass of well-known people with shows of their artwork in reputable galleries and museums, so we thought we’d do a roundup of a the living household names who are fully committed to their studio practice and have enough bona fides to, at the very least, get their work on view.

FROM THE SILVER SCREEN TO THE WHITE CUBE

Matt Dillon

Whatever you think of the work, and I’m a fan, you can’t deny it: Dillon is a true fixture in the art world, and has been for a while. I sat across from him at Indochine for a dinner celebrating Jamian Juliano-Villani, and he goes to Cindy Sherman’s Christmas parties. He has the right people in his corner. This won’t be his last New York solo show.

Sylvester Stallone

He never did get that job as the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. But Stallone went on buying art, often at art fairs. In 2022 I reported that he bought $3 million worth of stuff at Art Basel Miami Beach, including a Rashid Johnson, for nearly $1 million. As for his own art, well, he’s had shows at Galerie Gmurzynska, as well as the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain in Nice. He’s inspired by Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter. But what about the work? Seems fine to me.

Adrien Brody

I’ll give Brody credit—he’s a New York City kid who grew up in the art world, went to LaGuardia High School. His mom is Sylvia Plachy, the legendary Village Voice staff photographer, who has had her work published by Aperture and is part of MoMA’s collection. I’ve seen Brody at Basel. And for these reasons, there’s no need to make work that’s not-so-faintly redolent of Mr. Brainwash, but he did.

Lucy Liu

I’m kinda into her stuff! Reminds me of Rita Ackermann, which is not what I was expecting. Her latest show closed last week at Alisan Fine Arts, in Hong Kong.

Brad Pitt

He had some work in a show with his close friend Thomas Houseago, after apprenticing with the master sculptor in the studio for years. Pitt makes ceramics, and talked a lot about the artist Charles Ray in his 2022 GQ cover story by Ottessa Moshfegh. Moshfegh: also an artist! She had work in that epic group show at Sprüth Magers that Jill Mulleady curated last year. It was a readymade, two couches, one from inside her house, the other left outside to weather the elements. I thought it was cool.

Tilda Swinton

Great actor, the kind who if we told you did a bunch of out-there performance art stuff…how surprised would you be, really? In 1995, she staged a work at the Serpentine Galleries called “The Maybe,” in which she slept in a glass box in the museum for six hours. It was put on again, with Swinton returning to the box, at MoMA in 2013. Doesn’t seem like the most original idea in the world, but I’ve never slept in a see-through box in a museum before, so maybe I shouldn’t judge.

PAINTERS ON THE RADIO

Bob Dylan

Look, I just think Dylan’s artwork is fantastic, I loved the Gagosian shows, they’re weird and funny and deeply strange, like Dylan. Larry Gagosian talks about how he convinced Dylan to do the show, and even got him to show up to the opening, which is pretty insane considering Dylan doesn’t really show up to anything. He’s got a studio he works out of in Santa Monica, or maybe it’s Malibu, he keeps things shrouded in mystery, that guy. Also, Richard Prince did not make this artwork.

Kim Gordon

Gordon maybe shouldn’t even be on this list, as she’s been an artist longer than she was in a band—she went to Otis College of Art and Design, and even worked as one of Larry Gagosian’s first employees. And she’s exhibited widely the entire time, first showing with Reena Spaulings and for the last few years staging a number of solo shows at 303 Gallery—founder Lisa Spellman and Gordon met in the ’80s, they were part of the same East Village scene, all that. There’s a video work by Gordon currently up at 303, and she also has a show of work at Amant in Brooklyn.

Jewel

After a show at Crystal Bridges, Jewel staged a performance in Venice during the Biennale, and, you know, color me intrigued. There’s something real here.

David Byrne

Talking Heads invented art rock because, well, that’s what they were—artists who came together to form a punk band, as art. So it’s not quite fair to be talking about David Byrne as if he just switched from being a rock star to being an artist, but here we are. He shows at Pace and I think it’s solid work, plus he’s always at gallery openings, popping in and out on his ever present bicycle.

AUTEUR THEORY OF DIRECTORS IN GALLERIES

Bennett Miller

Miller’s staged a few great shows of his AI-generated work at Gagosian that were pretty ahead of the curve. My main complaint is, the guy was on such a heater: Capote, Moneyball, Foxcatcher, and then…no new Bennett Miller flicks. Bennett, I’m a fan of the art, but would love another film soon too.

Yorgos Lanthimos

“I’d like to take a break from making films,” he told The New York Times in March. “For now, at least.” To do what, Yorgos? Ah yes, to show your photography at art galleries. While they were taken on the sets of his films, the black-and-white works have way more to do with Diane Arbus and Robert Frank than anything informing Bugonia or Poor Things.

Harmony Korine

After years at Gagosian, Korine moved to Hauser & Wirth, where he had a show at the downtown LA space in 2023. It was great, if a little conservative for Korine—what’s great about him, and there’s so much to love about the guy, is his paintings aren’t a chance to channel inner artsy weirdness. The work might actually be the most normal stuff he’s ever made. Like, when he went on Letterman to promote a movie—that was deeply disturbing high-concept performance art. The stuff he shows at Hauser is classy. But everything Korine makes, does, says, thinks, it’s all part of this shaggy American spectrum of art-making, and I’m here for it. Maybe he’s the best example of a famous-person-slash-artist…because it’s all art.