Maya Lin "lucked" out on the VietNam Memorial and has been riding that success for her whole career...her work isnt that special, she just has a name that people can identify and work that is so goddamned easy to swallow...So its not suprising that she has nothing to say, her work doesnt either!!
But I liked it.
everything is all aesthetic fluffery at this point. at least she can make pretty city parks. everyone likes ice skating rinks, right?
Lin's work is very powerful in situ. She does terrific, monumental, environmental pieces. Even the sort of irritating Coeducation memorial (uh, sculpture?) at Yale is quite interesting, textural, interesting, good to touch. Meaningful.
I didn't see her local exhibit here, though was interested, but I suspected I would find it too ephemeral based on her other work I've seen.
One good idea. Twenty-five years ago. Why is it surprising that she hasn't had another one? She isn't really an artist at all. One good idea, made good mostly by the emptiness of it, because any EXPRESSED idea on the subject of Vietnam in 1981 was doomed to failure. Now, she's dull, empty, incompetent: why is is this a surprise?
This post, and a few of the comments, make me think-- damn, some people take Art (or whatever it is that Maya Lin does) way too seriously.
I liked the Henry exhibit. Call it aesthetic fluffery if you will. I liked the simplicity of it. Granted, not all the pieces were good, but a few of them were very engaging.
It was an indoor experiment. Maybe it's not really appropriate for her style. I wasn't thrilled about signing a waiver either, but hey, this is the United States of Litigation.
And art, as a general rule, is always overpriced.
loved it. loved her. fuck you.
?
Not all artist are very good at talking about art, and I don't think that disqualifies the work from consideration.
I liked the Henry exhibit, and looking forward to the installations related to the Lewis & Clark trail (only one of which is completed).
I realize this is where I should include a snarky strangeresque insult, but it's 7:30 in the morning and I can't come up with one.
* Not all artist are very good at talking about art...
A good and simple truth. And if memory serves Lin was trained as an architect, a design profession whose members are forced to drop intellectual abstractions and create within the dangerous world of nuts, bolts, codes, budgets, and power besotted clients.
* “Why Has Maya Lin Retreated from the Battlefield of Ideas?”
Only an art critic would ask that question,they who consciously flee the belly of the creative beast. Remember that Lin has every reason
flee the battlefield of ideas - as the painfully young winning designer of the memorial competition she was instulted, thrashed, and humiliated. She probably is scarred for life by that horrendous experience.
Ah, The Henry Show. Well I was underwhelmed...yet remained unmotivated to give it any energy to write my two cents about it. Just not my cup of tea.
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