Cancel Madonna? Material Girl Has Last Laugh at Art Basel

An episode of America’s cultural wars that pitted Madonna against some unlikely detractors will come to a breezy conclusion this week at Miami, where art aficionados can sneak a seaside peek at some of the sexagenarian performer’s most iconic imagery. The singer set the stage, so to speak, last month in a social media post about the 30th anniversary of her book “Sex,” which sold nearly 1.5 million copies worldwide.Madonna claimed that were it not for her pioneering provocations, the new generation of American female singers, including stars such as Miley Cyrus and Cardi B, would not be able to strut their stuff quite so freely — and free of controversy — as is now routine. After the book’s publication in 1992, Madonna wrote, she “spent the next few years being interviewed by narrow minded people who tried to shame me for empowering myself as a woman.” But the 64-year-old Michigan-born crooner’s assertion that she laid the groundwork for the success of those who followed was perceived by some as a hubristic and unsolicited victory lap, and drew swift rebukes from quarters high, low, and in between. Celebrity feuds involving the “Material Girl” singer are nothing new, and to the relief of the nation, Madonna and Cardi B have since patched things up. What was different this time, though, is that the woman who arguably made a bigger impact on pop culture in America than anybody else in the 1980s and 1990s is increasingly up against the self-appointed enforcers of woke ideology. One such example was when a guest commentator for NBC News claimed that not only did Madonna give herself too strong a pat on the back, but that she ignored “mid-20th century black blues women who sang and gained popularity for their sexually evocative lyrics.” Others have charged that the catchy hit song “Vogue” and the famous associated dance moves amount to cultural appropriation.The problem with such indictments, of course, is that they are blind to the multidimensional impact of many American recording artists of the so-called MTV Generation. With Madonna, say, success was never just about the lyrics — very few of which are actually so “sexually evocative.” It was also the insouciant attitude and unrelenting visual riposte against a Puritan drift in Anglo-Saxon culture: Namely, the videos and brash images that went along with them. Regardless of whether rock-and-roll purists and cultural fussbudgets care for them, many of those early music videos are now treasured American cultural artifacts. So is the formerly notorious book “Sex” that is now, according to the Daily Mail, “well-regarded for its social and cultural impact and is considered a bold post-feminist, LGBT-beloved work.”The original edition of the book was spiral-bound, clad in an aluminum cover, and wrapped in Mylar. The interior pages were shot by a preeminent fashion photographer, Steven Meisel, and penned by Madonna herself. That Madonna paved the way for many female recording artists and entrepreneurs today is not really a question of if, but to what extent. Sexual mores in America have evolved considerably in 30 years, and despite or because of the controversy that surrounded the book, it served as accelerator of many of those changes. Whether it was a crass or fearless engineering of a polarizing public persona is something today’s woke cohort, and others, can chew on this week at Miami. What was once scandalous will now be beknighted by the Art Basel whirl. A selection of Mr. Meisel’s photographs from the original book will be co-curated by Madonna and the creative director of Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello, and put on display in large format in what is described as a “temporary beachfront box.” It will be situated where 17th Street meets the sand and anyone over the age of 18 will be granted admission free of charge between November 29 and December 4. The box forms the core of an “ephemeral” — do not look for a Parisian fashion house as exalted as Saint Laurent to say “pop up” — exhibit built expressly for Art Basel Miami. Inclusion in the contemporary art world’s most high-profile annual international event confers upon each participant a substantial amount of cultural legitimacy, not that a heavyweight like Madonna really needs it.Sales of reissued copies of “Sex,” which number only 800, are to benefit Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity. That is another Madonna maneuver, possibly. If so, it’s one that could be considered commendably post-woke.

Cancel Madonna? Material Girl Has Last Laugh at Art Basel

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