Jay Z's new Anthony Mandler-directed "Holy Grail" video, which premiered exclusively on Facebook, continues in the overall theme of Magna Carta Holy Grail and his previous, art world-centric video, "Picasso Baby." Instead of name-dropping art staples like Picasso, Basquiat, Art Basel, and Christie's on "Holy Grail," Jay Z raps about the downfalls of fame and how easy it is to lose yourself in the opulence and volatility. What might not be so obvious are the amount of visual references to the darker lyrics in the song about death, destruction, and mortality. From the painting depicting The Fall of Icarus in the background to Justin Timberlake's still life-adorned table, here are 6 Art References in Jay Z's "Holy Grail" Video that may have you rethinking the meaning of the song and visual.
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The Sun or the Fall of Icarus by Merry-Joseph Blondel, 1819 (On the ceiling of the Louvre)
The mysterious painting behind Jay Z in a few shots, where he appears to be in an empty swimming pool, is actually a piece by Merry-Joseph Blondel from 1819 called The Sun or the Fall of Icarus. The piece was commissioned for the entrance of the Louvre's ceiling to the Galerie d'Apollon.
The Greek mythological story of The Fall of Icarus fits "Holy Grail," a song about how easy it is to lose yourself in fame and wealth. As the story goes, Icarus' father Daedalus warned him not to fly too close to the sun, as his wings were secured with wax. Not only did Icarus disobey his father (his wings melted off by being too close to the sun), but he also fell into the ocean and drowned.
In the earliest known painted version of The Fall of Icarus, thought to be by Peter Bruegel in the 1560s, Daedalus is not present, yet in Blondel's version, he is. What's even more striking about Jay Z's inclusion of this painting in his video, beyond the way this classic story connects to the struggle he depicts in his contemporary life, is that he includes a quick close-up of Icarus falling without the other characters around him. The fall is as lonely as Jay is throughout most of the visual.
Still Life Paintings
During Justin Timberlake's first scenes, he goes towardsa table with rotting fruit and the head of a dead swine. In many shots, it's apparent that this setup was inspired by still life painting, perhaps the Flemish and Dutch style of vanitas still lifes from the 15th and 16th centuries, meant to show the meaningless of materialism and wealth on earth. In these types of still lifes, food and game rot and drinks spill over to invoke reminders of death and destruction, which intentionally relate to Momento Mori-a reminder of mortality.
Is it a coincidence that Jay Z used diamond-encrusted Momento Mori-esque skulls resembling Damien Hirst's For the Love of God piece in his "On to the Next One" video, too? Probably not. After all, he raps to himself in "Holy Grail," "You still alive, still that n***a / N***a you survived, you still getting bigger n***a," as both a reminder that he made it through hard times and is winning but will also eventually die.
A fair amount of vanitas still lifes contain open books of sheet music, such as Simon Renard de Saint-Andre's 1613-1617 Vanitas below, which is a lot like the Magna Carta-esque book with notes about limitation and censorship on the middle of the table. It all connects.
Rene Magritte L'invention de la vie (The Invention of Life), 1927-1928
Surrealist painter Rene Magritte's work is similar to still life painting in its ability to make people question reality and existence. Much of his work during the 1920s depicted people with cloth covering their faces, including couples, as in his 1928 piece, The Lovers (bottom left of second thumbnail). This work was sadly inspired by his mother's suicide; when they found her at a river near his childhood home, he (at 13 years old) saw her retrieved from the water with her dress covering her face. The figures in front of Justin during his first appearance in the video cover themselves with fabric and sway in the dark yet captivating way that the characters in Magritte's paintings do.
Similarly, one could compare these figures to the work of artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who wrapped buildings, walls, and streets around the world (at impressive scales) in fabric, including their Wrapped Monument to Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza Duomo, Milano, Italy from 1970 (top left of second thumbnail). Unlike Magritte's paintings that directly connect to his painful confrontation with death at an early age, Christo and Jeanne-Claude are famous for insisting that their work doesn't mean anything and only carries beauty and aesthetic value. Drawing from their work would make sense, too, since the scene is extremely beautiful, if nothing else (the subjects even wear heels, making them appear sexy, too).
Barry McGee's TV Set Tower, 2002/2012
While many art pieces use television and TV sets to make commentary, Barry McGee's TV Set Tower from 2002/2012 (shown at ICA Boston recently) resembles the stacked televisions from which Jay Z watches himself, Mike Tyson, and other media on. The televisions undoubtedly comment on his isolation, as he watches them alone, and they also connect to the discussion of death and reality, which the media acts a messager for in manifold ways (think Andy Warhol's "Death and Destruction" series from the early '60s). McGee's televisions are used to historicize street culture, as they show digitized tags, geometric patterns, and found footage on the screens, much like the ones in "Holy Grail."
Greek and Roman Sculptures
Jay Z used the Met Museum's sculpture of Alpheus and Arethusa by Battista di Domenico Lorenzi from around 1527 for the cover of Magna Carta Holy Grail (below). The sculpture is a depiction of a Greek myth about the nymph Arethusa who is pursued by the river god Alpheus. In an attempt to escape her pursuer, Arethusa transforms into a stream.
Jay Z commissioned many other Greek and Roman busts for the "Holy Grail" video, which are the only things that give him company in the visual (with the exception of a butler-looking figure in the shadows and Justin Timberlake's solo appearances). Sculptures memorialize their subjects and are, again, a reminder of mortality throughout art history.
White Orchid, exploded MG car by Arman, 1963
Countless popular music videos have featured burning cars, from Vampire Weekend's initial "Diane Young" video from earlier this year to Lady Gaga's "Marry the Night" video from December 2011. The art of burning a car has been long embraced by visual artists, including Arman and Superflex. Arman in particular did a burning car piece titled White Orchid, exploded MG car in 1963, which he actually filmed as it exploded in Düsseldorf, Germany (below). He took the piece a step further by hanging the burned car on the wall of a gallery to show the audience what its destructed version looked like.
For the "Holy Grail" video, the burning of a vehicle, especially towards the end of the video, mirrors the destruction of the self that Jay Z and Justin Timberlake have been singing and rapping about beforehand. All of their opulence is abundant, from fruits to pork to scuptures and televisions, but it's also dark and rotting. The song heightens, and the car burns to pieces. The question is whether, like Arman's piece, anything remains.
