Thoughtz on the Pharoah Hennessy

By Benjamin Davis Brockman for The Fiddleback's Shit We Like:

If you don’t recognize the name Jayson Musson, it doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t as hip to the memes as you thought you were. However, if Musson’s online pseudonym rings a bell – it may be because it was cleverly comprised to. Hennessy Youngman (an amalgamation of the names of a beverage popular among the hip-hop celebrities he cartoonishly embodies, and the stand-up comic “King of One-liners”) Musson has created a household name, which young artists, and art skeptics alike, turn to get a bullshit-free take on commonly bullshit-filled art topics. As the self proclaimed Pharoah Hennessy, Musson has made big splash with his YouTube series“Art Thoughtz,” garnering in excess of one million views.

An emerging artist himself, Musson’s vantage point on the art world is all too common.  Musson has been interviewed numerous times as himself and as Hennessy  - and with or without the gaudy Elmo cap – he always delivers a clear, concise assessment of the shallow art climate.   His videos cast a direly needed dose of sardonic reality to the naïve, the jaded and anyone content enough in their creative practice to laugh at absurd notions of artistic success.  He waxes on subjects such as Relational Aesthetics (clearly a notion he masters), Post-structuralism, making it as a black artist, and graduate school – with such a cool cadence that you might only pick up on the latent anger if you share it.  Musson himself is not nearly as self-assuming as his projected identity, and he even uses the character to give scathing critiques of art celebrities such as Damien Hirst – focusing not on Hirst’s process or products but rather simply the role he plays in perpetuating notions of what so many people hate about art.  But the disconnect between the artist and his creation defines the phenomenon of Hennessy Youngman – and his diatribes are nothing if not self-aware.  Whether it will be a problem for Musson as he traverses the art world with Youngman on his back remains to be seen.   

Jayson Musson: from Barack Obama Battles the Pink Robots

For now, the alter ego stands as a remarkable artistic achievement.  And very importantly, Musson is not afraid to share the stage.  In 2011 he posted a video with an open call to artists for a gallery show he had acquired at Family Business in Chelsea – which resulted in an overflowing exhibition with absolutely no restrictions on size, media, scale or quality.   The art world needs both of these voices – Musson’s and Youngman’s – and it’s a step in the right direction to dissolving the prohibitive elitism that keeps the majority of the world thinking that art is not and cannot be something they can be part of.

Artist or not, check the following links and let the Pharoah enlighten you. 

Youngman on YouTube, Vimeo (less censored), Twitter, Tumblr, and his website.  Be sure to see Musson’s website here.