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I'm not cut out for the world of art criticism, I don't think. Yesterday, I described one of the exhibits at the Contemporary Art Museum this way:

There was an interactive display in one of the galleries that consisted of (and I'm not making this up) some wooden crates with Busch beer spilling out of one, a tunnel built out of popsicle sticks, a crappy picture of Jackie O. spanning a bunch of letter-sized sheets of paper, a mound of dirt labeled the "Grassy Knoll: National Historic Site," a JFK commemorative LP, a tent, and a bunch of Little Debbie Zebra cakes scattered around the tent. It was utter crap.

That's a very literal description of what I saw and my reaction to it. What is interesting is to compare my description of the exhibit to the one provided by the people at the Contemporary:

Jason Wallace Triefenbach
Hero, Compromised (Autobiographical Fiction/Narrative Medley)

Jason Wallace Triefenbach's exhibition encompasses a multi-media installation comprised of performance, music, spoken word, sculpture, and props. For two days, Triefenbach conducted a live performance at the Contemporary which he videotaped and then edited with additional footage shot off-site. Sculptures and props from the performance reside in the gallery as residue of what previously occurred, and the video is displayed on monitors within the space. With these various components, Triefenbach creates a woven four-part narrative that is part autobiography, part fiction, and is based upon a central character, the Protagonist Everyman, and his frustration with an overabundance of pop culture, fear of living in obscurity, and his attempt to escape from it all. According to Triefenbach, "This piece is a conglomeration of half finished puzzles, jokes, and associations–beginnings of stories or a bit from the middle, but never the whole picture."

The journey Triefenbach's character embarks on signifies one man's experience and imaginings in an anonymous city that could be here (St. Louis) or anywhere. Multiple metaphors, references, and associations pertaining to consumerism, cultural iconography, the artist's life, and political ideologies are embedded within the storyline, thus creating Triefenbach's own fantastical expedition for the viewer to navigate, pose questions, seek answers, and formulate their own conclusions. This amalgamation in Triefenbach's work creates a compelling tension between fact and fiction, which cannot be deciphered into an ultimate conclusion, but rather remains suggestive of multiple potential outcomes.

Quite a difference. I apparently missed all the "metaphors, references, and associations" but I certainly "formulate[d] [my] own conclusions." As I said above, it was utter crap.

Posted by on 3 February 2006 at 4:22 PM

ha! as I read this post, I was mentally composing the comment I was going to leave, and it was

"oh, I 'formulate[d] [my] own conclusions' all right..."

and then I got to the end, and you had written the exact same thing -- punctuation and all. so I have to say, I definitely concur: utter crap.

Posted by michael on 4 February 2006 - 3:04 AM

"The three jurors are Elizabeth Dunbar, Curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; Gary Garrels, Senior Curator at UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Helen Molesworth, Chief Curator of Exhibitions at Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio."

Interesting, I met the latter at a dinner party last month and have to say she has very good taste in general judging from her present and past shows. You should check out the Pulitzer on a Wednesday or Saturday, if you haven't aleady. I think you would like that exhibitions in that space better

Posted by Yang on 4 February 2006 - 12:24 PM