Her directing is brilliant. And like many video masters, it's possible that if she tried to work in a standard boring feature-film format, the results may not be as impressive (although they could be). But that would be the fault of a staid format, not Grimes. she's as good as any movie or video director in her age group working in Hollywood today- along with Hiro Murai, Director X and maaaaybe whoever did Lana's High by the Beach and whoever did Weeknd's The Hills (although those are slightly less original, despite perfect execution), she is certainly the best video director of recent years.

I can't really judge her visual art as that's not my area of expertise. I know very little of the art she was influenced by (I like anime but I don't read manga and I don't keep up w/ new developments in comics and such) whereas I know a lot about film history and music video history (and I guess, like most people, I know about music). When I watch her videos or listen to her music I can see just how various things have influenced her (because I'm also familiar with those other things) yet that also helps me appreciate just how truly original her vision is, the way she combines those influences with her own unique perspective. It's only because I know that history, that I can go beyond "I personally love this" to say actually, she is really fucking good. Not that objectivity is ever possible, but in the same way as you can study the history of hip hop and you'll realize there was never one album that accomplished all the things To Pimp a Butterfly did, you can find that the same holds true with Art Angels within the genres it draws from. And also many of her music videos are unprecedented in terms of the overall perspective and imagery, even if any given element may have been seen before elsewhere.

For me her visual graphic art is emotionally intense, evocative and technically excellent but probably still her weakest point (ironically despite this being the way she got started as an artist- making posters for live shows by other musicians before she got a chance to try making music herself) but I have to say that partly because I don't have the visual art background to judge that aspect of her career the same way. I have no idea how original or not her visual art is. One thing I love about her visual art (and I do mostly love it- I just get the feeling I have seen things like it before, that it isn't as original as her musical and video aesthetics) that it constrasts perfectly with her music. The ugliness and horror/sf of the album covers of Visions and AA is a perfect contrast to the shiny "pop" surfaces of the music, but it reveals the darker soul of Grimes.