For some reason I ended up on MASS MOca's Mailing List. There has yet to be one single art installment that I would wish to see however. Today I received yet another expensive full color brochure about another show called "Of All The People In All the World". Sounds good right? Yes, until you open it and find out that someone has dumped 16 tons of rice in the gallery and called it Art.
The viewer is asked to hold a piece of rice as they walk through the "installation" and consider their small place in the world. Deep, really deep.
I was very excited when I first heard about MassMoca, I thought it would serve as a beacon of inspiration and light to the area, boy was I mistaken. In this particular installation Condoleeza gets her own piece of paper with one grain of rice it happens to sit right next to the piece of paper that represents Popes. I don't get the connection but I'm sure in the "artist's" mind there is a strong one.
To waste food in such a way is truely American. To waste space in such a way is truely American. To waste money and paper promoting it is turely American and it is all basically crap.
Years ago I visited MOMA and after a grueling 3 hour drive and bumper to bumper traffic I was rewarded with an entire room of "Art" that consisted of blank pieces of paper that had been washed with water to create crinkles. Every piece looked just like the other pieces. The only redeeming factor was the the frames; beautiful maple frames surrounding complete emptiness.
I don't know who decides on the installations but I do have an inkling as to why they are chosen. There is nothing that could be considered confrontational. Remember during the Republican Convention in NYC what MOMA decided to feature? "Hands", a bunch of pieces about human hands. Not a single confrontational piece was included. How nice. Yes American Art Curators, why do something that could possibly be seen as a political or personal statement? Why put your career on the line when it is so easy to just play along and keep getting those checks.
I used to call myself an Artist. I will no longer do so. Not in America. Not now.
Peace.