Caution: This is ARt
April 28, 2015 8:00 AM   Subscribe

 
(title was supposed to read "This is ART", sorry!)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:01 AM on April 28, 2015


Never apologize for your ARt
posted by The Whelk at 8:08 AM on April 28, 2015 [9 favorites]


museums will survive. But in what form?

Seems pretty obvious to me.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:17 AM on April 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


Apparently one problem is even recognizing that something is art, and the solution seems to be to put up a sign saying so.

I think I prefer "Ceci n'est pas une pipe."
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:17 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I can only think of John Hughes' great documentary about art and museums just becoming entertainment.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:40 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Night at the Whitney Museum: The Legend of Kevin Flynn!

When the exhibits at the online Whitney Museum start behaving strangely, Larry Daley -- now an ENCOM Incident Response operator -- is transported inside the software world to find out the cause.

Ben Stiller, Jeff Bridges, Whitney Cummings
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:08 AM on April 28, 2015


It might be the best museum i've been to. The building's great, the views are great and the show is great. Granted i got to see it without a crowd and with endless, free, low-end champagne, but it's soooo much better than the MoMA, or the old Breuer building, or even Renzo Piano's Morgan Library upgrade. Where the New Museum feels like wasted volumes (too high ceilings for the footprint) here it all works, and I can easily imagine the spaces split up later by temporary walls. It is kind of ugly from the outside, but it's such a weird object that iI find it attractive. In terms of Starchitecture, this totally trumps the Guggenheim, which I think is a nice novelty, but a pretty unforgiving place to see art. The one thing i question is the super generous outdoor space which I'm sure will lure in tourists and revenue from the Highline, but whose subsequent crowds will probably seriously distract from getting to see the art. The current installation of the collection is pretty amazing, although I wish they'd retire the Edward Hoppers for a few years. I skimmed the linked article before i even went so my comments here are anecdotal and not really referencing that.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 9:18 AM on April 28, 2015 [7 favorites]


We can all hope, but few of us can paint. Take a number, get in line. Google says, "Wear a tutu!"
posted by Oyéah at 9:20 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


In terms of Starchitecture, this totally trumps the Guggenheim, which I think is a nice novelty, but a pretty unforgiving place to see art.

Museums could be really great architecture if they didn't have to waste all that effort displaying art.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:22 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Closed Mondays
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:35 AM on April 28, 2015


Highly recommend: SLIDESHOW: Inside the New Whitney

So so so excited to visit NYC and spend a day or two at the Whitney.
posted by Theta States at 10:22 AM on April 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


njohnson23: "I can only think of John Hughes' great documentary about art and museums just becoming entertainment."

That appears to be by Robert Hughes. I think this is John Hughes' take on the matter.
posted by RobotHero at 10:33 AM on April 28, 2015


Robert Hughes is well known for his cynical take on modern art. He had a multi-episode documentary called "The Shock of the New" which is a history of "Modern Art" beginning around 1900 or so. I really enjoyed it, but what I mainly remember about it is that originally the work that was being done was unquestionably "art" to my unsophisticated eyes, but eventually everything ceased to be about art and became a shriek for attention. The early work was "This is amazing to look at" and the main message of the last stuff was "Stop ignoring me!"

The early modern artists were all masters of their craft and used that mastery in service of their new ideas about art. The later modern artists generally didn't pay attention to craft, and to my unsophisticated eyes most of their work was garbage.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:19 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


From now on, in order to maintain my credibility, I will not use first names in any references. Though the Farris Buehler (spelling?) was good. Ignore the first name there too...
posted by njohnson23 at 2:56 PM on April 28, 2015


Interesting article. I'd also call the Art Institute world class. And where is the Frick? What an amazing place that is.

I'm looking forward to the new Whitney. I saw the Koons exhibition last year, and decided that I wantd to come back to the new building when they were exhibiting someone else.
posted by persona au gratin at 5:08 PM on April 28, 2015


This is a great article, but I'm still a little perplexed by how Part II fits in, as it reads (to me) as pretty conservative and kids-these-days-ish, which stands in start contrast to the really great effusive stuff about recontextualizing and exploring and rethinking established narratives-- a project far more in line with what the piece seems to decry in the second section.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:17 PM on April 29, 2015


« Older ♫ 🎹 ♬   |   Did Anyone Guess Her Secret? Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments