episode 4 with Rob Slifkin
In this episode
Caro Fowler and Rob Slifkin discuss the paradox of the artist biopic, a genre Hollywood keeps returning to despite its frequent critical and commercial struggles. Drawing on films from Pollock to Basquiat and Final Portrait, they explore why these movies often feel constrained by historical accuracy, struggle to depict artistic genius, and lean into romantic myths of the solitary, suffering artist. Along the way, they unpack recurring themes like patronage, gender dynamics, and the tension between storytelling and education, ultimately asking what these films reveal not just about artists, but about Hollywood’s own aspirations, limitations, and fascination with the idea of art itself.
TRANSCRIPT
Robert Slifkin is the Edith Kitzmiller Professor of Fine Arts, at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University where he teaches classes on modern and contemporary art and photography. He is the author of Quitting Your Day Job: Chauncey Hare’s Photographic Work (MACK, 2022) which received the Historical Book Award, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France; The New Monuments and the End of Man: U.S. Sculpture Between War and Peace, 1945-1975 (Princeton University Press, 2019); and Out of Time: Philip Guston and the Refiguration of Postwar American Art (University of California Press, 2013) which was awarded the Philips Book Prize. His essays and reviews have appeared in such journals as American Art, Aperture, Artforum, Art Bulletin, Art Journal, Burlington Magazine, October, Oxford Art Journal, and Racquet.