Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw is secretly an artist’s fondest power fantasy
Warning: significant spoilers ahead for Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw.
“They’re visionary,” art critic Morf Vandewalt enthuses when he first sees a series of paintings by the late outsider artist Ventril Dease in Dan Gilroy’s Netflix movie Velvet Buzzsaw. “Mesmeric… I’m ensorcelled,” he continues. It’s the reaction every artist dreams of: instant, ecstatic, unqualified praise. Forget leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Forget awakening from head trauma and learning you’re a secret super-assassin. When it comes to empowerment fantasies for artists, nothing beats overwhelming critical enthusiasm.
Most critics have talked about Velvet Buzzsaw as simultaneously a satire on the art world and a predictable horror film. It’s certainly both of...