Monday, January 16, 2012

MOMA Dust Bunnies, Subway Stalagtites, Well-Hung Deer.





Happy After Residency!


After leaving Boston with the WONDERFUL MISS RITA, I've arrived in New York City. Well, I guess Brooklyn to be precise. I'm crashing on the couch of some wonderful wine associated geographers, who took me to a local waterhole where I came across the resplendent represenative of the Cervidae variety. Certainly was a lot more festive than the Beuys Bunny attached to sticks at the MOMA which I had the pleasure of examining the next day.

What a tremendously crowded place! Hot and hard to concentrate in! Maybe I have a case of the overstimulies, but I actually enjoyed the Fluxus room the most,generally because no one was crowding me. Also, those guys just crack me up. I don't know how they ever got anywhere, but Ben Vaultier now has pencil cases in the gift shop and his own wine, so he must be doing all right.

I have to say, I liked the MFA's modern and "contemporary" rooms much more, maybe because they weren't so full of people. However, I have to agree with Liz Deschenes- seeing just one example of, for example, a Raushembourg when you've had the pleasure of seeing whole rooms of them really seems a lonely experience. Personally, I always have this feeling about Donald Judd's work. Curators always seem to have them off in corners looking ominous and imposing, like the uncle no one wants to talk to at a thanksgiving party. (The MFA's Judd piece certainly kicks the MOMA's ass, having just seen them a few days apart. Actually, the MFA's Judd might be my favorite in a mixed bag setting). Seeing Doris Salcedo's shoes in the wall in 2 different locations really changes the meanings of the work, however. Suddenly they became like a commodity everyone could collect instead of the precious portraits they are (I believe) intended to be. And the museums aren't just content with 1 pair, they needs must have at least 4 to get the point across... Anyway!

One thing that was truly amazing to me was the prevalence of sizable dust bunnies. I don't know if the installation of the DeKooning show upstairs had just set the little guys free, but they were EVERYWHERE. Especially on the dias' that kept the sculptures aloft from the masses. You'd think they never dusted in there!

I was sad to see that the Wyeth was hanging, hidden, by the elevator. I must not have seen every floor, because I never caught sight of a Warhol. I couldn't get near Demoiselles. And so I was glad to get back in the subway, admire the strange mineral deposits and head back to Brooklyn, pizza and good friends.

Speaking of whom- my hosts are remarkably intelligent people, have MOMA memberships and cultural awareness, and yet, over dinner Kate asked me "What exactly IS performance art?" Ah, that is a blog post for another time...

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