Eating in MoMA's Contemporary Galleries

"Untitled" (Placebo), Felix Gonzales-Torres, 2001

I highly recommend it right now. I went to MoMA slightly hungry, battled the crowds and opted to tour the contemporary galleries rather than face the masses in the permanent collection or new Diego Rivera exhibition. I chose well. In the shimmering installation by Felix Gonzales-Torres, visitors are invited to take a piece of candy from the pile which is eventually replenished. It is slowly depleted, to be refilled later, and was created after the artist's partner died of AIDS-related complications in 1991.

Continuing on, the art gets better in terms of fullness. Not only did I get a piece of silver-wrapped candy, but I was next served green curry.

Curry from Untitled (Free/Still), Rirkrit Tiravanija, 1992

Yes, that's right. I stood in line for a bowl of very decent green curry in a section of the gallery turned into a room-like space by a plywood frame and temporary walls and furniture. Rirkrit Tiravanija's piece Untitled (Free/Still) first went up in 1992 at 303 Gallery, and the museum recently acquired it. You can check it out from noon to 3 p.m. most days through February 8.

Food as a medium in an installation or performance is something I feel I've seem more of in the past few years. Jennifer Rubell for instance has done some notable performance/installations involving food, like thecheese head at the Brooklyn Museum of Art or the more recent Art Basel Miami breakfast. However her works never seem nearly as appetizing as what's at MoMA now.

Also check out: Five for Friday: Works that Look Good Enough to... for more of the museum's edible works.

Death Masks

Sir Walter Scott

Death masks were wax or plaster molds applied post mortem to create a replication of the dead's face, and could then be reproduced further. Casts became popular to display or use as a model for a bust or portrait in the late Middle Ages. This practice was common until the end of the 19th Century. Some of the surviving masks are wonderfully expressive. While admittedly morbid, there's something touching and honest about the surviving portraits. They would have served as accurate reminders in the age before photography, perhaps less flattering than portraits but seemingly immediate.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

William Wordsworth

Dion Boucicault

 

Isaac Newton

All these images came from this online archive of Princeton's. Even more can be found here at this Paris shop still in existence today. For a brief audio exploration of death masks, check out Radiolab's podcast here and learn where the face of the CPR dummy came from.

Are we having fun yet?

So far the New Year has brought change, but not necessarily of the pleasant sort. And change is always stressful.

Which is why, for your viewing pleasure, I bring you a little something to make you appreciate life. Girl Walk // All Day is a full length, music video of a film charting three dancers encountering New York City.


Girl Walk // All Day: Chapter 2 from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.


Released in clips, there are 11 available on the website with the 12th and final clip coming today. I'm having fun now.