Seward Johnson's 26' tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe attracted all the tourists last weekend. There was a steady stream of people wishing to be photographed under her skirt and the antics that they would do for the camera proved to be amusing.
Consider the space between her legs a platform with constantly rotating groups of people who would pause to run their hands all over her and even lick her limbs. Given how scuffed her feet were, this surely wasn't a sanitary affair.
The Tribune Tower flanks the square alongside the Marilyn Monroe sculpture and I became acquainted with its rock collection for the first time. At first this proved interesting but then it became a source of contention. Over the course of time, correspondents for the newspaper returned to Chicago with fragments of rocks from around the world. 136 of them, including a piece from the moon (on display in a glass window), adorn the walls. All was fine and dandy when they came from generic places like the Revolutionary Battlefield but...
... once the sources became more specific (temples, bridges, buildings in the Forbidden City), it took on this pilfering of national monuments activity that I became uncomfortable with. Here come the Americans with their pick-axes chipping off ornaments from a bridge to display on a skyscraper in Chicago.
Only one specified that it was removed during "reconstruction" and one can only assume that the others were taken illicitly. The fact that it was the White House, an iconic American work of architecture, that the Tribune Towers felt the need to clarify, cemented the thoughts that other country's national monuments did not matter (and were open for "ownership").
One of the most interesting possessions I have is a rock chipped off the Taj Mahal by my great-uncle who was stationed in India during WWII (from the "wunderkammer" above). I have a love hate relationship with this and it directly relates to the Tribune Tower collection. I hate the fact that Uncle Bill defaced a national monument for a souvenir (much like I presume some of these correspondents did when acquiring the rocks for their employer). On the other side of things, who has a piece of the Taj Mahal?
Well the Tribune Tower that's who. Now we are both pilfers of by association - it's hard to feel good about that. [Photo by RSSB]
I'll get to the rest of the Chicago posts tomorrow (the photos have been trapped on my camera - not the iPhone - and have been difficult to get to), but while I'm thinking about it... the four images I've accumulated of artist's houses. I'm formulating an artist statement as this is a series that I will continue for years to come. I would like to include some females yet stick to houses, not apartment complexes or condos. This is also a rough print - I don't know if I will continue to use this scale or format or use of text. The Turrell piece will be substituted with my next place that may possibly take place next weekend.... Robert Adams.
I recently discovered John Gossage's The 32" Ruler and his images of his new neighbor's home... Donald Rumsfeld (both images below are Gossage's).
Glad I am not alone in this endeavor.
The quadrant at the top of the post is part of this exhibition. Illicit activity = yes!
Chicago! Art & Culture! At long last! The art highlights included: Pandora's Box: Joseph Cornell Unlocks the MCA Collection. The exhibition was broken down into the Box as Altar, The Voyeur, Repetition, Cut and Paste, and Film Works to name a few.
A Starn Twins double Rembrandt portrait on plywood tilting toward the viewer.
Mariko Mori, Birth of a Star, 1995 (it looked like a holograph the way it was displayed = ever so 1990s but fascinating nonetheless)
Pipilotti Rist, Sip My Ocean (the more installations I see of her work, the more fascinated I become with the viewing spaces)
Christian Boltanski altar installation (predictably one of my favorites)
Arman, Alarm Clocks, 1960 (note to self: look up more of his obsessive collections)
The main exhibition on display was Mark Bradford's retrospective. It was my first acquaintance with his work and I was drawn to his use of manipulating paper.
Mark Bradford, Corner of Desire and Piety, 2008
On to the Art Institute where Ralph Eugene Meatyard's Dolls and Masks was the main focus (more on that exhibition once I purchase the catalog). There were also some works I had seen a couple times before but was happy to view again:
Salvador Dali, Venus de Milo with Drawers, 1936
Eva Hesse, Hang Up, 1966
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
... and then....
The Wormhole, Wicker Park (with a replica of the Deloreon from Back to the Future).
From this website: "Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1925-1972) has been on the fringes of photographic history--so much so that he once inserted one of his own prints into a personal copy of Beaumont Newhall's seminal History of Photography, which had not included him."
In light of David Byrne's installationTight Spot, a 48'x20' inflatable world installed underneath the High Line, it's time for another globe blogpost. Byrne's project is definitely a reason why I wish I was visiting NYC in the next couple weeks.
Ruth Watson, A Map of the World that Does Not Include Utopia is Not Even Worth Glancing At, 2004
Summer has passed though this 80 degree day is deceiving. I spent an additional 13.5 hours editing Italy photographs before school started in August to add to the summer stipend.
I turned a year older as witnessed by some "real cakes."
A very special birthday present from my friend Maura of my friend Shawn's photograph:
A photograph received that was long coveted (Mark Sawrie from the series Specimens).
A postcard I borrowed from Amelia to scan (my infatuation with horned toads started while living in Tucson):
... and what's this? Two acceptances! I'm a Critical Mass Finalist for these photographs. In addition, Nine Fake Cakes... will potentially appear in a publication coming soon to a photo magazine near you.
The Hotel Minerva was the worst place yet but the a/c worked and I was only staying one night. The carpet was stained and the room was very dark. The mustard hues also contributed to my dislike for the location.
I thought this was an ironic work of art to hang over the bed in a tourist hotel room, let alone cover with a wafer-thin towel.
The view outside the window because, lo and behold, there were wood panels and no curtains to pin money from.
Hmmm... what does one do in Pisa? I only had one thing on my list, thoroughly saturated with artwork by this time. Pisa is on the Arno River and how the buildings are situated around this body of water is very similar to Florence. It's a lot grungier though: more graffiti, dirty streets and so many more people selling their wares. Approaching the Leaning Tower from the East was SPECTACULAR. I didn't have much interest in climbing to the tower top especially after learning it was sold out for the day.
It was incredible how much that tower leaned compounded with my inability to take a truly good photograph of it crooked (I unconsciously straightened it out with each image). Rather than going inside any of the buildings on the Field of Miracles, I spent a great deal of time watching tourists pose in front of the tower.
I sat in between the two buildings below (the Baptistry and the Duomo) for nearly an hour in the shade, over saturated by nearly everything ornate and artistic and touristy.
I didn't buy a plastic Leaning Tower though I had many an opportunity. They were nearly as prevalent as David in Florence. I didn't buy one thing aside from food, lodging, and museum entries the entire trip (I still marvel at that).
After foraging for dinner (difficult to find on an empty stomach on a Sunday night not directly next to the major tourist attraction), I went back to the hotel room to catch up on the New Yorker magazines I finally had time to read. En route to the airport via the train station the next morning:
I learned so much this trip, thoroughly satisfied with accomplishing the feat of going on my own. I didn't know the language and there weren't any mishaps. I also discovered that I'm tired of making artwork focused around a location that I'm visiting for a brief amount of time. It's time to return to introspective Jacinda in terms of making art. This whole trip was a struggle in that regard. As much as I knew I needed to finish Nine Fake Cakes..., I kept thinking about the Marilyn Monroe photographs, the artist stalking images, and what to do with the 3770 cats. I want to incorporate more writing into my work and a couple of series I am going to keep plugging away on will certainly welcome that.
