CONSUMERS FOR CHRIST! (Happy Holidays 2)

I had the opportunity this holiday season to do some power tourism in New York City. If I never again walk through Times Square it will be far too soon. That said, I was able to spend a lot of time studying the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). I just discovered that both of these institutions have very well done cyberspace realms that are worth a look.

Here is a rundown of the temporary exhibits that I think are worth mentioning:


At MOMA there was a very large retrospective dedicated to Elizabeth Murray, who went to SAIC, and whose wacky, shaped, and constructed canvases tended to draw one in. "Behind the seemingly user-friendly demeanor Murray's work sometimes projects, there is daring, especially at a time such as the present, when corrosive irony is the prevailing mode of mass culture, and distancing effects are the norm for advanced aesthetics." I was unable to shake the feeling that these paintings were set pieces for a county fair haunted house, but I enjoyed the the work and the opportunity to see things from throughout her career.


The other big show was a collection of work by Odilon Redon. This work is simply 19th century French Romanticism which I am not normally fond of, but he had the tendency to include so many themes of mythology and fancy that I have always been at the very least amused, particularly by the dark and moody prints of monsters.
Additionally there was an industrial design exhibit about safety equipment and many of its absurd and extreme applications in this fearful epoch but this was really much better in idea form than in practice. As much as bullet resistant masks and tsunami warning signs can make one chuckle, looking at all the different kinds of earplugs just does not get the juices flowing.
The Pixar-suck-up-love-fest was avoided. Remember, STEVE JOBS LOVES YOU!!!


At the Met I saw a show of what appeared to be the complete collection of Combines by Robert Raushchenburg. I could not help the sensation that sometimes he is just putting you on in a smug manner as he splashes a few splotches of paint around but I could not deny the way that this work pushes the limits of the definition of painting, even forty or fifty years later. I still like the little one with the Lincoln Memorial in it from the Art Institute collection best as its small format to me lends itself best to the Combines.
There was a wonderful contemporary drawing show with pieces spanning 1975-2000. There were such powerhouses of drawing that weigh heavily on my consciosnous as Raymond Pettibone, Kerry James Marshall, Jasper Johns and other art stars as well as lesser known artists that often focus on drawing.
Another more subtle show was on a mezzanine and consisted of small watercolours by Paul Klee during a trip to North Africa while he was still in a very experimental stage and forming many of his signature concerns in art. This was a great opportunity to try and understand Klee, someone who I have been attempting to look at more as I obsess over the early years of the Bauhaus movement.
Van Gogh's drawings were there as well, but I already saw that show in Chicago years ago and approximately a bazillion people were present trying to elbow their way close enough to snap a digital photo with their mobile phones, so that was also shunned.

The rest of my time was spent wandering around the very relaxed neighbourhood of Queens during the transit strike with forays into the hipster havens of Brooklyn and the East Village accompanied by a slightly uncomfortable and queasy feeling. Chinatown and Greenwich Village were particular favourites of mine, especially a jazz club that my rock star brother had found on a previous visit to downtown Manhatten. There was a Broadway spectacle in there as well, but I might get lynched by snobbish stagehands if I speak too much about that.
How lovely it was to do absolutely nothing filled with holiday cheer during the end of the year holidays.