Talking Art, Acid and Architecture with Filmmaker Jonathan Meades

[@kinghani]

I understand where you're coming from totally, but if this video makes you hate Meades, please watch his documentaries. You will completely change your opinion. They are the best things on television.

[@jongell]

Hey snowflakes, Jonathan Meades is one of the greatest documentary makers in the history of the medium. His writing is superb, his architectural writing possibly second only to Ian Nairn. Like anyone of fearsome intelligence he can appear prickly, conceited, whatever. But the pile-on these comments is entirely undeserved! Check out his films, they are the work of a real pioneer.

[@paulnash9851]

I adore Meade's documentaries. I just like the way he approaches his subjects. I can understand why some don't though, he's a bit like marmite. You either get/like it or you don't. Not sure about his art/painting though...

[@HarryHitchens1]

this man is incredible

[@thomHD]

Jonathan Meades is a truly great writer and, especially, documentary maker. I'm sure there are a lot of North American millennials here who haven't a clue who the fuck he is and are probably personally offended by his immediate dig at religion.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

this comment section proves millenials are both losing their sense of humour and irony

[@ugy10]

Adore him. Brilliant prose, docs. Just a legend.

[@Happyheart146]

Meades is a Genius. I've learned so much from him.

[@decam5329]

I grew up watching his documentaries. Best teacher I had.

[@paulklee5790]

Too true... him and Clive James... the slightly intimidating geezers we all wanted to hang out with...

[@starcrib]

I think he is wonderful , important, a national treasure !!

[@elephantricity]

The interviewers eyes really give off an uncanny valley effect.

[@LazyMiko]

The fact that so many people in the comments are calling him pretentious is just proving his point.

[@D4rkR4ge]

Thumbs up just for that opening statement.

[@markhaynes672]

Another brilliantly insightful and at times hilarious interview conducted by Gavin here. we need more!!!!

[@jOoomOooo]

the part where he talks about like building on builds well like they doo that in Toronto and its like a classical building with a modern "avant garde" growth on it it is very cool

[@PanthersJaww]

good vibes to anybody following ..

[@Trag1cality]

Wow VICE, you done GOOFED UP again.

[@jamesrose4373]

"They've got to go somewhere". - Priceless..

[@georgemacbeth2311]

Pompey is the best British novel of the last thirty years

[@TheAlbinoskunk]

Ah Arnold Circus. One of the nicest places in Shoreditch. Got mugged there at knifepoint a few years ago 😐

[@boobsftw553]

Good times!

[@tonywolton]

I watch all the Meads' documentaries. If I understand a full sentence, I give myself a pat on the back.

[@NoWhereMan95]

While I don't agree with everything the man says. His documentary on Mussolini architecture was interesting to say the least.

[@povilas_sako]

First 20s just straight to the point!

[@apricotblossom2991]

He had me with "it's absolute bollocks"

[@neilunknown]

At 8.50, possibly the most pointless question ever asked by an 'interviewer' - "did you always know you wanted to be clever?"

[@chrish12345]

no so pointless, its actually very pertinent - Meades wears his cleverness on his sleeve like few others, it is the essential factor perhaps in his whole TV persona - many other 'clever' people don't actually wear cleverness on their sleeve like Meades when they go on TV

[@dljdljdljdljdlj]

Great piece.

[@xanthirudha]

he seems like he is a member of the International Situationist, he is an Avantgarde.

[@karlosreneayala]

Interesting thing that Banon and Meades are never in the same place at the same time.

[@LoneCanadianPoet]

People with scarfs in interviews with interviews by guys who reveal to the viewer that the interview is in total control and the space-time continuum is protected against all forms of intrusion by the minds of a curly-haired generation of philosophical hopefuls debating between breaths of coke-strawed bravado and deep hauls on sinewy fingers pointing to oblivion's capital city with its bid for a renaissance of Olympic sportsmanship and its curious use of redundant trips in pantomime to rivers built to spill.

[@Baltican]

I see what you did there.

[@LoneCanadianPoet]

yup.

[@LoneCanadianPoet]

Eric Gordy "Sips tea, feels useful" ?

[@ceracen]

uhh I don't know. ..

[@AudioDiversity]

i will clone you ..because you are very punchable

[@WillErokan]

I love Meades.

[@wacozacko89]

Funny how it's at the start it's a documentary about documentary's

[@irishelk3]

Wow the interviewer was on a great buzz. Arts about life! zest! flair! energy! imagination! light! not dull almost slumped in your chair garbage talk, get a hold of yourself man!.

[@tahnolikessharing]

It seems as though he's backed away from pretentiousness *so* much that he's come full circle and become what he hates most.

[@MrMetallkopf]

haha nice one

[@KenRobinsonchannel]

Especially when he talked about naming his art randomly to confuse people. Oh you edgy artist you.

[@tahnolikessharing]

Ken Clark Exactly. When I go to look at a piece of art, I want to either experience, feel, or understand what the artist was trying to convey; or potentially develop my own understanding of it. Deliberately confusing people, only because "the artist" thinks it's funny and anti-establishment, is insulting; borderline arrogant. To me, it makes the art meaningless, because the message is lost. I do admire that he knows what he likes, and what he doesn't like. I can respect that, but when you go on to insult people who don't share your enjoyment of a certain style as being inferior, that's where you cross the line into arrogance.

[@AudioDiversity]

i feel you family. me i love to challenge my mind by seeing a piece from as many perspectives as i can conceive in addition to attaining understanding from what the artist is attempting to convey..this is most satisfying, time to clone more lifeforms

[@JButt-]

I couldn't agree more, you put it perfectly.

[@JamieKunka]

I heard he only cooks with goose fat.

[@MajesticMage]

OH THE EDGE

[@rositasweetman]

terrific stuff x

[@hectt11able]

Man why couldn't gavin interview someone else anyone else?

[@AmbientEpicuros]

The painting at 1:59?

[@alexey5481]

Really interesting chat!

[@dsports4753]

acid is best best best

[@AudioDiversity]

i wana try but i have no confidence in dealers..gonna have to hit the chem lab for that one

[@dsports4753]

+AudioDiversity they have tester kits by the way. Making it is near impossible in the Western countries due to a main ingredient being difficult to get and gov. protects it.

[@dsports4753]

+AudioDiversity tester kits to see if it's bad or not*

[@kristenhartery]

10:30 if u want the acid segment

[@sorryboyyy]

Everyone here is comparing themselves to this guy. You can agree or disagree with this guy but why you hate him may be because there's something in yourselves that you're not happy with. He's pretentious because he gets to be and he's successful so who cares what everybody else thinks

[@menvcemvson588]

finna play skyrim now

[@ExhaIe]

LMAOOO what

[@SocieteRoyale]

fuck, I love Meades

[@ssc5140]

Very full of himself!

[@MrMetallkopf]

in this 10 minute piece which not represents his mindset at all as you would have to really know him to judge like that, but nice try

[@AudioDiversity]

and yet the cup is still so empty

[@robertcole236]

WHERE IS Michelle Meads from WATERLOO BELGIUM

[@robertcole236]

WATERLOO BELGIUM

[@robertcole236]

Michelle Meads is a missing person

[@TheKSChannel]

Legend

[@thundertower]

in the thumbnail i thought it was richard simmons

[@xanthirudha]

interview Raul Vaneigem

[@larkturner7136]

Jonathan Meades does not come across well in this interview. Which is unfortunate because his documentaries are excellent. Even if you don't agree with him (which I often don't) his take is refreshing in its originality.

[@simzocker]

Interesting individual, it saddens me that he took liking to aesthetics instead of philosophy tough.

[@alexey5481]

the fact you think the two are exclusive is telling.

[@MrCoolbeansSW]

I don't understand the bit from the start of the video to 0.15. Can someone explain to me how that is relevant to the topic of the video? It seems to me to just be an unnecessary jab at "people of faith".

[@PanthersJaww]

and i feel my thoughts turn to soup...

[@bluegore9214]

wha

[@pokemrstark7089]

it looks like he's being interviewed by his secret love child.

[@Ozzyyyyyy95]

Why the fuck is the interviewer looking like Drake in the intro?

[@AudioDiversity]

osh kosh josh locked away in a mustache cash stash

[@arthurburge9236]

Is minalmlisim for people with nothing to say?

[@Sciencef1ction]

If you claim that he's pretentious, your pretentious for thinking you understand whats being said

[@pereztube2]

your comment is pretentious

[@Zach_Films]

But he is pretentious...

[@user-lf4ih9sh6r]

"You look at these works and you don't know that they are about, so I gave them titles that would further confuse the viewer." This sounds exactly like something a "surrealist film-maker and architecture critic" would do... What a pretentious snob.

[@shinichi8213]

Yo yo yo, their are some brilliant surrealist film makers such as Jodorowsky!

[@xanthirudha]

+Shinichi Williams do you have anymore surrealist filmakers

[@AudioDiversity]

midgets in mind soul and body...

[@seanankerr2864]

There are two reason you aim to confuse someone, firstly it is to deceive them, this is usually subversive confusion, like an advertisement that associates a dour commercial product preying on social anxiety using attractive actors, or a fast talking salesman, or a venue that plays loud music that disorientates patrons making them buy more drinks, the second kind is provocative, it is consciously overtly confusing, it's aim is to encourage you to think for yourself. People hate being made to think, it involves effort, there's a well-known book on design called "don't make me think", theory goes if you design something and it isn't clear how it works, you risk losing them therefore it is bad design, but this presumes the thing which is being designed (literally "de-signed') has no inherit worth; the first order of business for any parasite is to hide it's presence from its host. Point being the person who is overtly confusing you is probably doing it for your own good, the person who is subversively confusing you is the real one who is fucking with you. 'Pretentious' stems from the French for presenting, it implies you are something on the surface that you are not underneath, his character in his documentaries may be that, but there is nothing of that kind here, as for 'snob', there are two contradictory meanings to that term, the original sense it referred to someone who aped the manners of the upper classes without being a member of them, in the modern sense it refers more to the idea that someone has particular ideas about what they like, every critic must be a snob on some level, ditto any expert in any field.

[@PanthersJaww]

holy shit he's explaining how its suposed to be disorienting

[@7sashan]

Guy sounds a lot like Jony Ive from Apple

[@kenjaminandco]

latest James Bond location @6:37

[@andrewmcdonnell4851]

Haynes looks terrified.

[@mehmetkaplan8075]

"Intellectual king kong".

[@AudioDiversity]

intellectual midget...let him keep jacking off in his box..the fucking box...enjoy the entendre

[@blaineguffin796]

I feel like the interviewer is attempting to, for lack of a better term, kissing the ass of the interviewee. The sad thing is that postmodernism eliminates certainty, allowing this man to spout whatever crap he wishes to express.

[@hallie4262]

I can make all of this art on accident

[@dave0161]

It's funny how edgy this guy thinks he is

[@Ikw__]

For real dude. I have to laugh or it's the opposite. :p

[@AudioDiversity]

fucker couldnt even cut through air...time to experiment with the local..

[@rr7firefly]

The increasing loss of livability of cities as mediocre buildings proliferate -- Meades knows it to be very true. The idea of London more and more resembling forgettable Midwestern cities in America is regrettable. The loss of contextual considerations, of basic proportions and functional expression -- all of these things have been subsumed by the preoccupation with return on investment. When economists start designing you can be sure that you are entering a particularly boring kind of HELL.

[@xBLACKxPOWERx]

dman, i cant believe Jonathan just shit on minneapolis. lol

[@trumanshow4863]

edge y

[@phoenixzappa7366]

Interviewer is annoying and thinks he is much more intelligent than he in actuality is

[@BB7News]

So choice number 2 gotcha

[@AudioDiversity]

they absorb meaningless data...with such midget imaginations..

[@joserogan7794]

Steve Bannon

[@DelacroixBoy]

"Photoshop is like spell-check for painting"... sure buddy. You still need to know the fundamentals of design in order to create quality content in any media. Just because the crap on the walls in that art gallery took longer to make via traditional methods than the 5 mins you could have taken to make it in Photoshop does not make it intrinsically better. It just means you deliberately avoid new technology that you don't understand instead of choosing to embrace it. Photoshop (or any other software) does not limit you to solely producing video game concept art.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

but it kind of is...just not in the way you say. Where's colour dropper, copy and paste, undo and layers when you make an oil painting? its a different process, and the hypocrisy is new designers have systematically shied away from OLD technology and people who can paint well are like some magical unicorn where photoshoppers are a dime a dozen, because they would never get out the brushes.

[@ashd-h4911]

Yes , he's old, white and speaks in a posh accent...turn him into soap, his existence is offensive and all his opinions must be discounted. But on the other hand , if he was a black male , perched on a log in some kind on contemporary dance pose, raging about the empire ,he'd be hailed as a prophet. Christ the youth are in a bubble.

[@StereoSoundAgent]

@13:30 sorry but Denver's "place" is draped much more in art, than in mediocrity much like your London flats. You should try visiting it here.

[@thecasualfront7432]

He's a maverick.....I like Mavericks........not geese

[@Vempsterful]

Don't worry Vice, keep trying.

[@PinaColadaPacman]

You too. Never give up bruh.

[@AudioDiversity]

your channel description is extremely deceptive, delete your account or i will hack and delete it for you!

[@robertcole236]

Michelle Meads is missing Person alert

[@jonnybravo4322]

I lost so many fucking brain cells. Creativity is an open door to fuckin madness. Depend on how deep you wade into the pool. Perhaps i misunderstood the groundbreaking importance of this document

[@AudioDiversity]

i dont know when jonny bravo started understanding the mind but you are correct

[@corneliusgreyling4424]

"Containers are the future". Get fucked mate

[@AudioDiversity]

made a bunch of funny and satisfying replies to see if i will get any in return youtube is free entertainment

[@RantTherapist]

He strikes me as a heavy alcoholic and a morning drinker.

[@nigelinoooo]

'Art'

[@Cur8or88]

Fascinating, irreverent man.

[@AudioDiversity]

half sarcastic half true as fuck...you sir are the one who is fascinating..

[@aaronhampton9003]

Dude wtf was that?......what are they talkin about!

[@kawabungadad8945]

162 people are obviously religious.

[@namesashhousewares8337]

bla

[@windmacher]

this guys ego gives him excuse to speak like this

[@3TYKX]

Ugh.

[@chaz32]

This guy is actually a bit suspect. Denying the value of any sort of spiritualism in his latest piece is frightfully Westernised and denies the experiences of multiple peoples. He truly believes he has existence squared away which is always a little unfortunate and tries to obfuscate a lot of his points with tautologies and clouded language.

[@Lucy-gz2ve]

I personally find the reporter annoying! he should pop a tab

[@schmidt640]

Bit of a prick but I really do enjoy the digital artwork he produces. The names are ridiculous and, truthfully, annoying. However, they look very cool. I actually want one or two of them.

[@joshcollins6099]

First

[@alexsaynor6717]

Jonathan is an interesting guy, but Gavin: what's funny about his comment that people of faith are likely to have learning difficulties?

[@lucaswinter1690]

Religions not true because he said so

[@julianj1938]

This guy has all the confidence of an intellectual with none of the substance

[@julianj1938]

I present the evidence of him saying other digital art just looks like "video games" (uninformed) and suggesting that the visuals are the most interesting or stimulating part of LSD. Just because you're dismissive of things you don't understand doesn't make you intellectual.

[@Nathangeles]

+Julian Jordan lmao absolutely! smh and describing what are typically the most introspective, psychological, transformative, spiritually powerful hallucinogen experiences as, "there's also a kind of 'moral' thing about it..." what a 🔳

[@chrismeredith8637]

Bollocks

[@LilView]

bored 3 minutes in

[@pereztube2]

don't waste your time nothing too interesting or insightful here

[@ACDinho80]

MDMA>lsd

[@PSLP]

love em both but i gotta disagree with ya there buddy

[@DyslexiaSkucs]

Why not both?

[@PSLP]

DyslexiaSkucs this is obviously the only solution

[@ACDinho80]

+PSLP let me ask why? Molly makes you love everything and everything loves you how can you go with acid over Molly

[@PSLP]

Once you reach the point where you already love everything in that MD way without taking any, then LSD becomes an even more transcendent experience. You cant really fully self actualise from just MDMA, as much as I love it and it definitely sets you up for better trips, acid is the don haha

[@topherdavid420]

Okay OKay... Photoshop is more like a "Darkroom" ... Not fawking spell check... I can't believe they gave this guy any credit towards his views on Digital Art. He is far to old to get it at all, let alone he hasn't even used photoshop, so I take it he hasn't used illustrator, and doesn't even know the difference between vector or raster art. Fawk this.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

er...no-one said he does. he says he's computer illiterate, and is obviously not from the screen absorbed millenial generation like you

[@comradethoth9629]

Minanilism, abstract, and pop art are what killed talented artists who had actual talent. This guy is quite close minded though. Most people who take LSD don't subscribe to nihilism. Quite the opposite actually; they find God or some sort of spirit.

[@Frankmejor]

I've done it, I like Nihilism quite a bit.

[@nigeh5326]

In my experiences with psychedelics yes it is often very spiritual and can seem like a religious experience. But I am an atheist so I largely discount the religious angle.

[@AudioDiversity]

they have died..only to return stronger. fear not

[@JohnDoe-wy1yd]

Not only a punchable face but a punchable personality, in the abstract of course.

[@AudioDiversity]

just a very punchable existence in general. here is a worthy idea. i will make clones. pay me a cool amount i will release a clone and you can practice those fighting styles you always thought were cool as fuck on em