Friday, April 23, 2010

Its Modern.

Last week I ventured to MoMA - the Museum of Modern Art. I can probably name three artists in the history of art, Andy Warhol, Da Vinci and Picasso - so let me start by saying this is how well versed in art culture I am.

After seeing Exit Through the Gift Shop, I probably have a greater respect for street art as art than some of the pieces, and
displays throughout MoMA. For example I came to a room that had framed pieces of "white space," as the showcased works. To me they looked like canvases in a black frame hung with not thought to walls. Then at the end of the room there was a CRAYON drawing of a blue snake (using only one crayon as the medium) that I'm pretty sure was dug up from my kindergarten artwork collection. What was even more amazing while I was staring at these pieces "taking them in for all their glory" was there were multiple groups that strolled by commenting on how profound and insightful these canvases were. I have to believe they were just saying that because that is what you are supposed to say in an art museum. Calling these works profound would be like saying Snookie is a credible actress - according to my non-artistic eyes.

That being said, there was one art in "motion" piece I could just not wrap my head around. I did not see what part about the piece required artistic talent - as you will find the further you read, any 3 year old who has competed in a starring contest could've made this "work of art." There were two ladies sitting at a table in the middle of the square with lights beaming down on them simply staring at one another, completely stone faced. They sit like this for 8 hours a day for 3 months - no bathroom or food breaks. The signage around their display indicated the she was a pioneer in this "exciting" field, I figure she is a pioneer because who else would want to subject themselves to feeling like a goldfish for 8 hours a day for three months. (Note that the lady in red is the pioneer artist and the other is a volunteer - which raises questions about sanity in and of itself about the volunteer). I mean with everyone watching them in their closed off space they had to have had similar thoughts to what my goldfish Otis thinks on a day to day basis. The good news is that as a spectator you are part of the art - so I am more than thrilled to say that I assisted in blazing the trail for this new found art form. Another thing I found odd was they were not even sitting in Lazy Boys, or recliners - but small, hard, wooden chairs.

Apparently this is a well respected form of art amongst the community who have a developed right side of the brain. My cousin who is an art major went into class only to hear about this wonderful display at the MoMA entitled "The Artist is Present." I am glad that there are people who are able to respect artwork like this. All I can say about it that it's modern. (With all due respect if this is the way modern art is going, I'll stick to Banksy and his street art - I see the flava in that.)


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