The paper of record has a story about a new exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory. (Despite the name, it is an exhibition hall, “with one of the largest open exhibition floors in the world”. But it did start life as a National Guard armory.)
The new exhibit is by Paul McCarthy, described by the NYT as a “revered Los Angeles video artist and sculptor”. The exhibition, “WS”, is described as a retelling of the story of Snow White.
What fun! Take the kids, right?
…the Armory, which has developed a reputation as a family-friendly destination, made the unusual decision, with Mr. McCarthy’s agreement, to restrict visitors to those over 17. And even for adult visitors, the Armory has built a virtual phalanx of warnings: advisories about the show’s graphic content on its Web site, on placards in front of its large oak doors, and inside the building before the entry to the exhibition itself.
Whoa.
Mr. McCarthy’s creation is decidedly not Disney’s version of the fairy tale. Composed of a massive forest-and-house set, accompanied by a seven-hour video of performances shot in and around the set — it is meant to be an apotheosis of the dark and deeply human themes he has been exploring for four decades concerning the body, social repression, consumerism, sex, death, dreams and delirium, and the power of art to deepen our understanding of life.
“an apothosis of the dark and deeply human themes”?
The video narrative and related videos secluded to the side of the main exhibition include plentiful nudity, of both sexes, along with scenes of urination and men masturbating to orgasm, not to mention highly unorthodox use of processed foods. The story also includes gory violence that is no less jarring for using Hollywood techniques like fake blood and sculptural body doubles.
I have no joke here, I just like saying “highly unorthodox use of processed foods”. (Karen Finley, call your office, please.)
As the NYT notes, exhibiting something so…out there…that you don’t want to let minors in to see it is unusual by NYC art world standards: MoMA didn’t ban minors from the Marina Abramović retrospective (though they did put up warning signs), and the Brooklyn Museum recommended (but did not require) parental guidance for “Sensation”.
On the other hand, I did not attend either of those events, and the Wikipedia summaries are unhelpful in determining if processed foods were used in a highly unorthodox manner.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Art, Clippings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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