Art Thoughtz with Hennessy Youngman

Jayson Musson aka Hennessy Youngman

In my “The Work of Art from Studio to Museum” class, I was introduced to the artist Jayson Musson (aka Hennessy Youngman). He’s currently based in Brooklyn, but he’s from the Bronx and he holds a BFA in photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania. In his internet videos titled “Art Thoughtz” on YouTube and Vimeo, he takes on the persona of his alter-ego, Hennessy Youngman, while targeting various art topics and playing the role of an art critic or cultural commentator. His witty monologues poke fun at different movements, notions, pop culture references and artists (there’s one specific piece dedicated to criticizing everyone’s favorite punching bag: Damien Hirst).

“How to Make An Art,” (embedded above), which was posted back in 2011, is the quintessential Hennessy Youngman piece, offering a comedic introduction/surface scratching work summarizing the age old question of “What is Art?”

I’d describe his paintings as somewhat of a Lichtenstein-Basquiat hybrid, with cartoonish figures, bright colors and witty, sometimes offensive subject matter and captions. His commentary and feedback are refreshing because of his urban perspective and it’s nice to get a viewpoint from someone outside of the traditional, hegemonic art critic circle (at this point in the semester I’m really tired of discussing Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg–but I also dislike abstract expressionism–which is a different story).

Some of Musson’s works are currently on display at The Fleisher-Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia.