Snapshots: New York City is calling!
I went to NYC for two and a half days for a job interview. Here’s my trip in 10 photos.
1.
I said hello to The Andy Monument at Union Square West, which was erected on March 30, 2011. Created by Rob Pruitt who wrote:You know the song “New York, New York,” and how for year after year people have come to New York to “make it.” One of the most important examples of that is Andy Warhol, who spawned a generation of people who think they can make it here in this city. Andy Warhol embodies the spirit of the city that still draws people.
2.
At 11:15 am on Thursday, August 9th, Yayoi Kusama’s retrospective attracted a line around the Whitney Museum of American Art for admission into the building. I only had a little bit of time before heading way uptown to Morningside Heights. Kusama’s work was designated to the fourth floor galleries, and displayed both chronologically and categorically. The media fever for the exhibition built an expectation for me that was unfortunately fruitless. Kyle Chayka wrote a review for Artinfo that sums it up nicely:There is Kusama the myth, the legendary Japanese woman who invaded the New York City art scene at its height, decamped, and has now returned to be trumpeted by major international museums and the world’s biggest fashion label. Then there’s Kusama the artist, who should be evaluated solely on the strength of her work. The Whitney exhibition, and its surrounding marketing blitz, bears the sheen of its Louis Vuitton sponsorship a little too strongly, as if the show were advertorial for the new clothing and proof-in-point that the brand-name artist is the new creative patron saint of luxury consumption. The art on display, while powerful, subtle, and protean on its own, has a difficult time overcoming that pervasive context.
