Artist Marina Abramovic had a candid conversation with Andrew Goldman for The NY Times Magazine recently, where she presented two somewhat shocking pieces of information.
First, Abramovic talks about her MoMA exhibit, which was arguably the most sensational art show in New York in 2010, but added that she was only given $100,000 for it. The Artist Is Present exhibit at MoMA saw a packed house every day, and the museum undoubtedly made serious bank from her work, but she says, "I got so little I don’t even want to tell. I was paid an honorarium of exactly $100,000. It covered one year of my work, plus how much I pay for assistants and office rent... I made an enormous installation out of the project, which took me one and a half years and some of my own money. They should have this major piece, but they completely ran over me."
Abramovic is also asked about the breast enlargement she had in the late 1980s when she and her lover/collaborator Ulay were on the outs. While she reminds us that she is an artist, not a feminist, it still seems somewhat odd that the often androgynously-adorned artist would resort to plastic surgery. She told the Times: "I don’t care. You know, I was 40 years old. I heard that Ulay made pregnant his 25-year-old translator. I was desperate. I felt fat, ugly and unwanted, and this made a huge difference in my life. Why not use technology if you can, if it can build your spirit?"
Abramovic is currently trying to raise $15 million for a performance art center in Hudson. And her MoMA exhibit lives on... The Artist Is Present film is currently playing at Film Forum. Hopefully she's getting a cut from that.
