Thursday, June 10, 2010

How Man-Made Disasters and their Media Coverage Affect the Interpretation of Art: A Case Study

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Fia Backstrom, Recycle (Hanging proposal for sculpture by Kelley Walker), at Murray Guy, photo by Marina Galperina

Constant bad news over the BP oil spill in New Mexico is making me think about Fia Backstrom’s 2007 piece Recycle (Hanging proposal for sculpture by Kelley Walker). Back in January I described the work as a kum-bi-ya plastic picnic homage to Kelley Walker, an artist known for using advertising media as subject matter. What do I think of the hanging curtain, thinker-throw pillow piece now that there’s a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Somehow the work looks much more sinister than it did back then. Notably, the nod to Walker is almost completely sublimated by the disaster.

Posted via web from eWaste Disposal and Recycling

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