Women look at art:
Some people seek information. Some seek enlightenment. These guys were gathering decorating ideas.
I'm not assuming or stereotyping. I heard them talking about it.
I was at the Museum of Modern Art, taking photographs, like this man, who had what I thought was the most fascinating profile:
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17 comments:
Vicki Hearne comments on information at the Met
If I came here for nothing other than your photographic artistry, I'd still be delighted.
Where did all the beautiful White people go?
I'm sure summer vacations in the Hamptons will be ending soon.
Re: "I heard them talking about it."
Yes.
"Oh, I like that little black one there. It would look nice over the acrylic chair."
"That black one?"
"No. The little one next to it."
"Oh, yes. Of course."
"You're not even listening."
Elliot Erwitt's take.
http://www.elhabitatdelunicornio.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/Elliot%20Erwitt%202.jpg
He must have had cooperation from his subjects, but Erwitt always makes me laugh.
Bugger. Line breaks. Perhaps a link -- Elliot Erwitt on men, women, & art
Did you check out the Richard Serra exhibit?
He had an excellent piece in downtown New York (Tilted Arc), but the Wall Street Journal convinced the city to destroy it in the 1980's.
I'm not sure I'd trust any decorating advice from a man wearing shorts...
"He had an excellent piece in downtown New York (Tilted Arc), but the Wall Street Journal convinced the city to destroy it in the 1980's."
No, the workers in and around Federal Plaza (who, as taxpayers, were forced to pay about 175,000 dollars for it) hated it. And so it went to the scrap-yard.
I thought you were supposed to be a "libertarian"? Heh.
They're wearing sh-sh-sh- I can't say it.
Tilted Arc:
The artist spoke to the people who worked in Federal Plaza through his work. He said:
Not only will you be forced to look at this huge rusty brown slab of steel, I will require you to walk around my monstrosity as you traverse the plaza to do your daily business. My work will steal minutes from your life. An obstacle of Art.
Ah, the Tilted Arc affair. I love it, and I thought about it as I walked around the exhibit. I worked in the federal court house when that thing was there, and I understand exactly how people felt. That thing was a hostile imposition on the environment, which may well have brilliantly expressed the mind of the artist, but real people felt and experienced that hostility continually in their real, little lives. Their fight back and ultimate success was part of the work of art, which reached fulfilment in the destruction. The artist's ego was quite appropriately wounded for the liberation of the people. The artist survived and is honored in a museum, where people get to choose whether they're inclined -- tilted -- to walk around large rusty metal plates.
About those shorts... yeah, I know. These are pretty decent examples of guys in shorts. I think the lenght of the shorts helps it not be too horrible, and the red shirt guy, especially, seems to have worked out the proportions pretty well (or am I just impressed by his huge shoulders?).
John: Hilarious photo. I'd like to think it wasn't posed. Of course, it was chosen. I took many group shots of people in relation to paintings, and these were my two favorites, and I juxtaposed them with captions to suggest something about the difference between men and women. If throughout the museum, men and women were behaving this distinctly differently, it would have been really weird!
Another thing about Tilted Arc, it was really long, like 40 feet, and it bisected a busy plaza that workers needed to cross. Imagine having to walk around it day after day. It's not like something ugly that you walk a few steps around. It was a substantial walk-around, evey time people crossed a busy plaza. It was insanely stupid for the government planners not to realize what a bad choice it was.
I did check out the Richard Serra piece in the sculpture garden, though. I have some photos I'll put up later.
Had a mtg. across from MOMA yesterday...sorry I missed you. When the museum was in Sunnyside Queens for a few years while this was being built and in a very old building it "worked" magnficently...now it seems to work even better. And as your photographs demonstrate, it makes people as art all the more interesting. You really have a nice eye.
Ann said "Another thing about Tilted Arc, it was really long, like 40 feet, and it bisected a busy plaza ..was insanely stupid for the government planners not to realize what a bad choice it was."
Years back in my first life as an orchestra conductor (yes really) we participated in what were called "encounters with art". It was in Tulsa and there is a very heavily used riverwalk area and a long walking trail along the Arkansas River. We did it three times in the summer and also used the 4th and labor day as bookends. The arts commission set up exhibits, and orchestra, a ragtime ensemble, all manner of folk, bluegrass, etc. and tons of local artists and put them somewhat in the way of the evening walkthrough...sometimes blocking the path, sometimes requiring little directional "walkaround and through" signs.
The purpose of course was to put "art" in a position where it was both enjoyed and confronted...and it made the two mile walking trail and absolute must see..people were even choosing their segments ..joggers still jogged, those working through the exercise areas still did the 20 stops..but there were so many people who discovered the area as to be astounding. we set the orchestra up on risers and invited passers by to sit "in the orchestra" to hear it from a different perspective than ever before.
Do you think that this might have been the idea for this placement?
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