New Museum Visit

May I just reiterate that I despise New York City? My group got a bit lost on Friday which resulted in an abbreviated visit to the New Museum. I have a problem with the tendons in my left foot, so after much hiking I was in quite a lot of pain when we reached the museum. However, I was there for several hours and made it to two of the three shows.

My first stop was the Emory Douglas show. Despite being very uncomfortable (and not only because of my foot) I spent quite a bit of time there. These loud, bombastic, violent, graphic, and unapologetic images were completely targeted toward grabbing the people's attention and expounding upon the goals of the Black Panthers. The strong political content of the work, combined with its curation and the documentary-style video, gave the impression of a history museum rather than an art show. I learned quite a lot of things about the Black Panthers that I didn't learn in school, but very little about the work in and of itself. There was also a great quantity of work displayed with all the same themes, which, while I was raised to be "colorblind" was quite overwhelming and disconcerting. The style and content really have't changed over the years either, I noticed several prints from 2008 that were just as violent as the ones from the civil rights movement which made me ask "Seriously? Is the situation in this country REALLY still that bad?"

David Goldblatt's show, even with the large scale of its photographs, was slightly underwhelming after Douglas' propogandic style. The photos were large but quiet and still, and showed an impressive amount of detail. Even thought the political content was still very much evident, it was more possible to appreciate the thoughtful composition than in Douglas' work. Still, two floors of these large photos was a bit too much, the message was clear after the first few. As upsetting as the plight of the people under the apartheid was, you can only look at so many photographs of barren wasteland and run down buildings, though I did enjoy the jail installation on the staircase.

I regret that at this point I really needed to get home off my foot and did not stay to see the final show, which looked to be much more playful. I may go back and see that bit next time I'm in the city, I think I'd enjoy that one a lot more.