Showing posts tagged pennsylvania academy of the fine arts
On Saturday, December 17, I visited the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts historic landmark building.  The last time I was in the Frank Furness building could have quite possibly been in 2008, when I graduated. I had heard of artist Jayson Musson and was curious to see how he had interacted with the Academy’s collection for his show Hennessy Youngman and Nathaniel Snerpus present: The Grand Manner. As PAFA is not particularly known for its role in the contemporary art scene, I wondered how Youngman would merge/respond/critique. Having attended the Academy, I have admired much of the work in the museum for its technical merit but have also felt distant from its subject matter, as many of the pieces are relics of a time long ago.  Of course, this is partially what makes the art interesting as it is a picture into the past.  Musson gets his material from the paintings and sculptures themselves.  Using his character, Hennessey Youngman, he offers honest reactions from someone outside of the art historical arena.  This is what makes this particular cellphone tour exciting.  It takes the practice of explaining the work anonymously and replaces it with a humorous, sincere questioning and critique authored by a specific opinionated individual.  Luckily, Musson happens to be smart, funny and articulate, delivering poignant lines after making you smile.  But that’s not all, for this show Musson has also developed Nathaniel Snerpus, a newspaper art critic.  “Snerpus’ authoritative air is continually undermined by his meanderings about his personal life.  While this personal element points to the subjectivity that runs through all interpretational writing, Musson’s citing of Snerpus’ name on each of his panels also points to the fact that museum labels are authored by individuals, undermining the notion of there being a singular institutional voice.” And Jameson Ernst a fictional artist.  “To all intents and purposes, the fictional artist Jameson Ernst could be exactly who the text panel accompanying his works says- a forgotten African-American Abstract Expressionist painter.  In this installation, the distinction between the museum proper and Jayson Musson’s installation is almost completely blurred, creating an institutional critique that is complex and multi-layered, where fiction is practically indistinguishable from fact.” Thanks Jayson for making my visit to PAFA interesting.

On Saturday, December 17, I visited the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts historic landmark building.  The last time I was in the Frank Furness building could have quite possibly been in 2008, when I graduated.

I had heard of artist Jayson Musson and was curious to see how he had interacted with the Academy’s collection for his show Hennessy Youngman and Nathaniel Snerpus present: The Grand Manner. As PAFA is not particularly known for its role in the contemporary art scene, I wondered how Youngman would merge/respond/critique.

Having attended the Academy, I have admired much of the work in the museum for its technical merit but have also felt distant from its subject matter, as many of the pieces are relics of a time long ago.  Of course, this is partially what makes the art interesting as it is a picture into the past.  Musson gets his material from the paintings and sculptures themselves.  Using his character, Hennessey Youngman, he offers honest reactions from someone outside of the art historical arena.  This is what makes this particular cellphone tour exciting.  It takes the practice of explaining the work anonymously and replaces it with a humorous, sincere questioning and critique authored by a specific opinionated individual.  Luckily, Musson happens to be smart, funny and articulate, delivering poignant lines after making you smile. 

But that’s not all, for this show Musson has also developed Nathaniel Snerpus, a newspaper art critic. 

“Snerpus’ authoritative air is continually undermined by his meanderings about his personal life.  While this personal element points to the subjectivity that runs through all interpretational writing, Musson’s citing of Snerpus’ name on each of his panels also points to the fact that museum labels are authored by individuals, undermining the notion of there being a singular institutional voice.”

And Jameson Ernst a fictional artist. 

“To all intents and purposes, the fictional artist Jameson Ernst could be exactly who the text panel accompanying his works says- a forgotten African-American Abstract Expressionist painter.  In this installation, the distinction between the museum proper and Jayson Musson’s installation is almost completely blurred, creating an institutional critique that is complex and multi-layered, where fiction is practically indistinguishable from fact.”

Thanks Jayson for making my visit to PAFA interesting.

I keep stuff. 

I am surrounded by things and as I gather and form piles and try to decide what to keep, what belongs somewhere else, what things I don’t even notice anymore and what things have meaning? I become overwhelmed. 

Maybe part of it is that as an artist, I am always considering “stuff” as possible “material” but at what point do I determine that the things I hang on to do nothing but weigh me down? 

The figurines photographed above are from a collection I began as a child on various travels with my family.  They were very exciting to me at the time (about 20-23 years ago now) and for that reason ? I’ve carried them with me.   Then perhaps, as a means to justify my holding on, I photographed them all.  But those photographs didn’t do much for me aside from highlight their odd expressions.  So tonight I put them into another environment using photoshop.  But ?

And so there they remain, now taking up room in my physical environment and on my hard drive.  And as I sit here staring at them I wonder, maybe I should construct an actual environment around them?  I came across shoe boxes that for some reason, I didn’t ever throw away.  And so there it goes.  And now I have more stuff.

Sydney Goodman once said in our Drawing class at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, “At a time when anything goes, what matters?”  About to turn 29 and I’m still learning.