Agnes Martin was well-known for painting grids. She once said,
“That which takes us by surprise — moments of happiness — that is inspiration.
I don’t know about you, Agnes, but my personal inspiration would inspire paintings filled with Lisa Frank Trapper Keepers, not the mathematical perfection of a grid. Ah, well. Agree to disagree.
Sometimes art is a full-scale flamingo mural at the American Museum of Natural History.
Way to state the obvious, Joseph Kosuth. If I had one of these signs, it would say, “I love Doritos and hate Paul Gauguin.”
Also, major high fives to Kosuth who admires the concept of a work over an object’s physical being. I’m always saying things like “Words are deeds,” but am never actually doing anything about either one of them.
Sometimes art is a well-manicured, sun-speckled promenade to a presidential tomb.
Cindy Sherman has taken about thirty years of selfies. Above, she staged her self-portrait to look like Caravaggio’s Bacchus from 1593-94, shown below. A recent study said Caravaggio looked like he had malaria at the time he painted the self-portrait, maybe some sort of liver disease. Ugh, Caravaggio, you’re my favorite artist, but gross. I am impressed by those muscles though, on both artists.
So, remember when I mentioned that I was about to closet raid everything on Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney? Well, wouldn’t you know, she is an artist HERSELF. I’m about to shell out for the Whitney to see just this piece. Sorry, Wesselmann and Warhol, I’m beelining for straight for Gertrude sculpture…and then her closet. A promise is a promise.
Sometimes art is an empty delicatessen storefront in New York’s Upper West Side. Who knew adding a few more syllables to deli could be so fun and fancy?!
Remember when I said Tiberio di Tito was a Florentine court painter for the Medicis? Apparently, he was heavy in that dog portraiture niche because this VIP (very important pooch, obviouslyyyy) was a major Medici.
His collar, armed with studs and points, lies next to him. On it is the Medici Family crest, a sure sign the dog was definitely something special to the family. (I hope you’re all noticing the amazing alliterations assembled in this post!) Family crests? Commissioned paintings?! And here we are, wasting time on matching leashes to harnesses when I could be custom order that set!
The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even is an installation that took Marcel Duchamp eight years to complete. Eight?! The Sistine Chapel was done in just four, but whatever. I still like all the crazy, crazy things that are happening here.
The installation depicts the Amorous Pursuit of males and females. Said Pursuit starts with the Bride (top half of the pane), singing a song to the men below. This exchange produces vapors that are caught within the men’s balloon-like molds called Malic Molds (rhymes with phallic, of course it does). These gases then become erotic impulse of Man. There’s a beautiful blueprint of the entire installation here that includes the Milky Way, the Handler of Gravity, and the entire path the gases follow from start to finish. Ah, fate and destiny, how we need you so.
What I’m realizing looking at Duchamp’s work is, this is actually the intimate questionnaire the eHarmony doctor touts on daytime TV commercials. Found you out, Dr. Neil Warren!
It was broken during transport in 1926 (whoops), but carefully repaired. It’s on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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