Yoko Ono @ MoMA

Growing up in El Paso during the sixties, far away from the art world, I knew only that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles.  Appreciation for her music as I got older began to chip away at my ignorance but her dynamite show at MoMA, documenting her work as a conceptual artist, finally blasted it away completely.

How cheeky to begin it with an apple!

 

One room was devoted to the Plastic Ono Band.

I didn't "get" a lot of it but her talent can't be denied.

It's definitely fair to say that she was ahead of her time.  Just take some time to read her instructions in Grapefruit.

I exited this room as quickly as possible.

A  guard stopped me before I could record my ascent "Up to the Sky." The spiral staircase grew shakier as you approached a skylight in MoMA's ceiling.

But for some reason, it was OK to record the mesmerizing "Bag Piece."

Way to go, guurrrrrl.

Queer Art Interface

Thom, Steven, Matthew and I went to the opening of "Interface," an exhibition of queer artists forming communities through social media at the Leslie + Lohman Museum.  Our friend Will Spangenberg contributed two sculptural pieces.  That's Will on the right.

His Tranimals were the coolest thing in the show.  He used a 3D printer to create them.

I liked a lot of the other work, too, although women were underrepresented. Anything goes nowadays. You don't have to search very hard to find Gio Black Peter's influences.

 

 

 

One interactive installation lured the selfie generation.

We knew the exhibit was trending when an acquaintance re-introduced Michael Musto to us.  "Yes, we hosted you at our house in the Pines one weekend."  I didn't remind him that he had failed to sing for his supper, falling asleep at the dinner table instead.

Some cute brat photobombed us, too!

Prospect Park Loop

I know Central Park like the back of my hand.  Prospect Park, not so much, even though it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, two of my heroes.  I walked the entire loop one afternoon after a visit to the Brooklyn Museum.   Central Park clearly benefits a lot more from private donations.  Prospect Park isn't nearly as manicured.

 

Kehinde Wiley and Jean Michel Basquiat @ the Brooklyn Museum

Is Kehinde Wiley the African American Andy Warhol?  I went to his solo show at the Brooklyn Museum to find out.

He works in different media on a much larger scale for the most part.

Classical painting, rather than pop culture, seems to be his primary muse.

But Wiley isn't immune to the lure of celebrity, although I prefer his rendering of the steed to the King of Pop.

There's also a homoerotic element to his work.  He "street casts" mostly men to substitute for white guys who dominate European painting.  Who could resist a come-on like that?

Sometimes the homoeroticism is subversive.  Teammates or lovers?

Does the inclusion of a black panther patch in this portrait politicize his work?

The exhibit segregated his female subjects in a room with a stunning sculpture.

Some people criticize Wiley's technique.  Assistants paint the sometimes intricate but repetitive backgrounds of his paintings.

Jean Michel Basquiat, who hung with Andy in the 80s, doodled a lot in his notebooks.  His work couldn't be more different than Wiley's but both help make art more inclusive for black audiences in America.  It's about time.