Like many other young precocious motherfuckers of his era, Jaar has built a career by loyally upholding one golden rule: “I shall not bow my head to any of my contemporaries.” A calculated line that doesn’t solely come from insolence but, perhaps, more from the only value to which he has sacrificed his art: transgression. A stance that, in times when corporations have gained absolute and undeniable control over mankind’s creativity, is, to say the least, justified.
This time around Jaar chose his subject carefully and sweetly, by opting to take one of the world’s favorite cadavers to task. He didn’t disappoint.
Formally, the mix is full of ghosts and primal screams and dreamy landscapes made up of melting samples of dead Strawberry Fields and overall surreality. Very Lennon. Very Jaar. In one of its many heights, it even parallels the death of the Beatle with how, decades later, America decided to mourn it: Black Friday! It’s definitely a deep trip that escapes all musical classification, because maybe it’s not about music anymore, or at least not about what we’ve turned it into. It is, maybe, about expression, liberation, and humanity. Tough subjects to tackle. But also the typical dealings of your typical art, right?
Through this memorial gesture, the youngster invokes the spirit of a man who decided not to accept the cage that some wanted to give him for a house. And in doing so, he takes subliminality and irony to a level that definitely signals where his schooling comes from. No doubt it’s Jaar bowing his head to Lennon. But do not confuse this gesture with your typical homage.
This is a lecture. And we are invited.
This is pop killing and cage burning at its finest.
With what he does best, art, Jaar’s giving revolution, a shot at our world, a chance.
