Weird afternoon at the Whitney Museum

[Senator Jack]

I finally got around to seeing the Ed Ruscha show at the Whitney today. For those who don't know of Ruscha's work, he was one of the artists, along with Warhol, Lichtenstein et al, that started the pop-art movement. Well back in '92 he did a series of paintings of factories in, for all intents and purposes, black and white. Some 13 years later, he revisits his work and repaints the same factories, in color, as though they had been either abandoned or bought out by another company. The Tech Chem plant has become an entity known as Fat Boy, A Tool and Die plant is now some sort of Korean owned warehouse. The layout of the series (10 in all) was such that they weren't next to each other (as with that book of NY pics - Then and Now) but that the black and whites were down one wall, and the colors up the other.

So I'm in the Whitney in a 50s suit and my fedora walking down the black and white side, and I begin to see all the 'modern' people in jeans and baseball hats walking up the color side. In an instant I had become one with those abandoned buildings. Right across from me were the people that were taking my place, just as Fat Boy took over Tech Chem. I wondered right away if anyone else was picking up on this, but they seemed too involved with their conversations. Overall, an odd experience.

And should any of the NY members think about going to the show, I highly recommend it. But it will only be there till the 29th so you better get going. Plus there's an exhibit of about 50 Oscar Bluemner paintings that are incredibly beautiful.

Regards,

Senator Jack