So i went to the William Eggleston retrospective at The Whitney last week and was shocked when some asshole security guard told me that i was not allowed to take pictures at an exhibit by a man who became known for taking pictures of everything - everywhere. I had also chatted-up some pr chick beforehand (who said nothing of this), gotten a comped entry and have been taking photographs (sans flash, obvi) in New York museums since the Giuliani regime. I mean, if Eggs was deceased, he'd be rolling in his grave - okay, maybe not for my petty infraction on museum justice, but you get the idea. The show is called Democratic Camera, but it felt a little more Stalin-esque in it's environs.
In all seriousness, whether or not you're a self-proclaimed art fag, a dilettante, a charlatan, or a connoisoir (ugh, the worst), this is one of the best photography shows i have seen at a major museum in years - and i basically see them all (guess im all of the above). But, enough about my of my own character deficiencies, and back to art-snobbery...William Eggleston was one of the first photographers i could ever sink my teeth into as a kid, he takes pictures of anything that interests him (literally anything) from a light bulb on a gritty red ceiling, to a disoriented old woman in the warm summer sun. He is considered to be one of the godfathers of color photography, and helped propel it from the doldrums of magazine print and hobby photographers, to the cutting-edge of contemporary art.
This show is a great testament to the half-decade Eggleston has been taking pictures (as an artist), and basically be seen pro-bono on PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT FRIDAYS....if you're credit's crunched.
Now that i have sufficiently flexed my pretension, aired my grievances, and displayed an ability to memorize art history, i will tell you simply - go to the whitney and see the eggleston show, before it closes in January.
Why not check it out if you're craving some (high) art (aren't we all? Not-so-much), bored - or spending inordinate amounts of time receding into your couch, waiting for take-out.
get cultured - stay fly
Yeah, galleries and museums are weird. I was at the Altes museum in Berlin a couple of weeks back, and my girlfriend had her purse on her shoulder. A museum attendant came running up to us and is like, "miss, miss... please carry your purse on your arm or in your hand. This is not allowed." Yeah, so basically she wasn't allowed to be carrying her purse on her shoulder.
ReplyDeleteMy next question was, "When I go to the bathroom, is there someone that will insist that I pee while doing a headstand? And if so, do you provide showering facilities?"