Waldemar Januszczak:

J'Accuse Victor Mount

For over two decades Victor Mount, a self confessed misanthrope and a man without talent or ability, has insinuated himself into virtually every branch of the creative arts with the express intention of ridiculing and undermining the efforts of others. Setting himself up as an artist, a musician, a writer, a poet, a publisher and film maker (to name but a few of his guises) he has used a form of irony which his victims, and often his collaborators, seem unable to comprehend or recognise. As a result he has persuaded them to leave the latch off the bathroom window so he can creep into the kitchen of false modesty and piss over the fridge contents.

His 'philosophy' seems to be drawn from subverting Joseph Beuys assertion that 'everyone is an artist' and Yosser Hughes plea 'I can do that - gis a job' and, by exploiting the ant-elitist mantras of the times, he has climbed onto the stage with the truly able and dared them to push him off. Unfortunately this has produced a dichotomy which has seen them scuttle to the wings rather than put a boot up his arse.

With a little ambition (and a couple of self-help books) he could have achieved something to be proud of instead of pedalling his trite nonsense. Even so his work has, unbelievably, been shown at the ICA, the Serpentine Gallery and even Tate Modern. His activities as an individual and with his various outfits (The Ding Dong Twist Club, The Ken Ardley Playboys etc.) serve only to degrade what others would regard as a privileged position. I wish I were a Freudian phsychologist who understood the self-destructive motivation for his crusade against talent. Alas, I'm just a hungry art critic being thrown stodge instead of steak.

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where you can already buy 'Make your Own Damn Music' Volume 1 and The Ken Ardley Playboys 'City Of Westminster'