The New-New Museum

A colossal 30hour-opening began last Saturday to welcome art and architecture lovers from all over the world in what could be considered the Newest New York Newness: the opening of a new home for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, located on the Bowery. The extreme challenge of a new art center’s birth in Downtown Manhattan, as a connection between the LES and SOHO, future and past art homes, was conceived in 2002, and after a five-year incubation, finally came to life on December 1.

Looking back at that Saturday morning, where a long and excited snake-like line of people ran alongside the corner of the building waiting to attend the New-New Museum first show in the Bowery, I see myself holding my precious ticket in front of the Building in an extremely excited mood. Great expectations, great predictions, powerful imagination, all at once sadly lost in a few minute-walk through the main door of the Building.

The event in fact, over publicized and over hyped child of the advertising industry, was lost at its first breath. Any surprise or revelation met visitors at their first walk into the Hall. What else could you expect from a white, aseptic, cool and square outside if not a white, aseptic, cool, neutral and square depth? Whether the outside of the building, $50,000 work of the Japan-born young architects Sejima and Nishizawa, could still give some excitement because of the expectation-rising tension, the inside, excepting some interesting details, is strongly disappointing because of its over-plain, over-consistent whiteness and the ugly and hospital-like illumination. But what definitely wins in the disenchantment competition is the Exhibition’s organization. A hodge-podge of “Un-monumental” objects, lost in their over melted placement and hardly linkable to the small white paper-cut labels upon the white walls, are arguably unconnected with any, doubtless invisible, line of meaning.

The building, after revealing a banal and expected soul, might had been conceived as modern in Mies Van Der Rohe’s ages where modernity as opposition to the Morris’ Art and Craft, was represented by square lines, where the minimum use of any tool was the purpose, where white was the most colorful color, where neon was the solution to energy waste. Indeed, what do these same ideas represent today, after unbelievable technological achievements, after over viewed glass buildings and light architecture concepts? What represents modernity if not advancing on what the present and the past already have shown us? It would be too much to expect a triumph of oppositions and contrasts in this building, conceived as house and window of Contemporary Art of the 21st Century? Was it too much to expect from a white, aseptic, cool and square outside a colorful, welcoming, warm and curvilinear interior or better something even not easily imaginable?

A Walker along untold paths

Kara Walker at the Whitney Museum of American Art



“I didn’t want a completely passive viewer. Art means too much to me. To be able to articulate something visually is really an important thing. I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; he would either giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful. I wanted to create something that looks like you. It looks like a cartoon character, it’s a shadow, it’s a piece of paper, but it’s out of scale. It refers to your shadow, to some extent to purity, to the mirror.”
- Kara Walker -

Just walking into the Kara Walker show at The Whitney Museum of NY, “My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love”, the first US museum show of the artist, it is easily evident how completely the artist achieved her purpose. Moving through the black and white decorated walls of the exhibition, where black paper silhouettes over white walls tell stories, relationships, life, feelings, powers and weaknesses of a cruel past unbelievably relevant today, it makes standing at such powerful discernments as passive viewers impossible. Those attractive silhouettes in fact, delicate and charming protagonists of the exhibition, attract the viewer by recalling old fairy tales’ illustrations. But, getting closer and closer, those tricky shadows lose their innocent appearance and become alive, revealing a shocking truth.

Incest, oppression, secrets, paradoxes, hierarchies, races, African American slaves and white American owners are the ingredients of such subtle but open dialogue, a two-way dialogue, firstly between Kara Walker and her living silhouettes and again between those silhouettes and the viewers, a dialogue each time so diverse, so intimate, so personal.

The artist’s choice of black paper-cut silhouettes on white surfaces represents her intention of free access and open interaction with her work. Black color for black slaves and black color for white owners, black for oppressors and black for the oppressed. The black homogeneity reflects, in this sense, a deep and profound, dark and hidden equality. There are slaves and there are owners of course, and everyone is well distinguishable for clear details, traits and lineaments, clothes and shoes; there are also race issues and hierarchy rules, but the Kara Walker show is far away from antiracism politicking, it is distant from piety or anger for black slaves’ condition. There are new feelings in these works, revolting feelings that nobody had ever told of previously: there is active desire instead of passive assault, there is attraction instead of scorn, there is weakness for the oppressors and power for the oppressed, there is a true upheaval of the popular knowledge of race and slavery’s issues.

Particularly impressive resound the black words over the white surface, black feelings over white behavior, in “Letter from a Black Girl (1998)”, a wall-size communique addressed ”Dear you hypocritical fucking twerp”, a pure uncolored voice telling unspeakable secrets, an unworried voice summarizing the whole exhibition, a voice which reflects though the silhouettes’ hearts, the paper-cut’s feelings.



The Kara Walker: “My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love” show in NY represents an impressive proof of the indistinguishable artist’s value, a proof of her diverse approach to art, art as voice of untold conditions, art as escape from conventions.

Kara Walker Biography
Born in Stockton, California, Walker moved to the South at age 13 when her father, artist Larry Walker, accepted a position at Georgia State University and her family relocated to Stone Mountain, a suburb of Atlanta. Focusing on painting and printmaking in college, she received her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. Walker was included in the 1997 Biennial exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Later that year, at the age of 27, she became the youngest recipient of the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "genius" grant, which launched a public controversy around her work. In 2002 she was chosen to represent the United States in the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in the collections of major museums worldwide. The 2007 Walker Art Center–organized exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Oppressor, My Enemy, My Love is the artist's first full-scale U.S. museum survey. Walker currently lives in New York, where she is a professor of visual arts in the MFA program at Columbia University

The New Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art



What would the great Greek tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides think if they could visit the New Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum today? What about the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, the historian Herodotus, and the poet Apollonius Rhodius? What would they think? How would Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger react at the sight of the frescoes of the Boscoreale and Boscotrecase Villas in Pompeii? Would they quiver recalling the devastating eruption of Vesuvius that in 79 A.D. took Pliny the Elder’s life?
I can imagine the satisfaction written on the faces of the emperors Augustus, Caligula, and Caracalla at the sight of the marble effigies that have made their countenance and deeds immortal. Seneca, Cicero, Catullus and Ovid would certainly be grateful to us, citizens of the 21st century. They would thank us for the care in the way we conserve, worship and collect the works of art and daily objects that generations of connoisseurs have handed down throughout 3,000 years.

History consists in a succession of events. No one can modify its evolution, but one’s action can determine whether an event will be later remembered or forgotten. Similarly, art becomes immortal when it gains the consensus of art historians, collectors and dealers. It is an inevitable process and the only one that can ensure the transmission of a work of art across centuries; it is also the same that allows us today to benefit from such a precious artistic patrimony.

The Greek world’ s artistic finesse gained the immediate admiration of the Romans. Despite the fact they put an end to the Greek rule, the Romans are considered to be the first true amateurs and collectors of both the Classical and Hellenistic styles of Greek art. Although they offered an impressive example of architecture and urbanism to their successors, their figurative art did not reach the same originality of contents. (never reached the same originality as the Greek one). Indeed, most Roman sculptures tend to emulate and reproduce models from the Classical and Hellenistic periods; furthermore, Roman frescoes and paintings depict the deities and scenes of conviviality typical of Magna Graecia. In light of this, it is not surprising that the Roman copies of Greek works spurred the revival of Classicism in 18th century Europe.

Reacquired Artistic Dignity

On April 20, 2007, a sunny day framed what many have defined the most important event in the history of the MET: the reopening of the New Greek and Roman Galleries to the public. These were designed between 1914 and 1926 by architects McKim, Mead and White, and were converted into an upscale restaurant in the late 20th century. Today, after a fifteen year-long renovation, these spaces have reacquired the artistic dignity for which they were originally created.

This stunning exhibition accounts for over 35,000 pieces including marble statues and busts, bronzes, vases, utensils, precious gems and daily objects across 6,000 years of art history. The exhibition begins with objects from the Bronze Era, and continues chronologically with the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods as well as Cypriot and Etruscan art. This historical path ends with the art of the Roman Empire spanning over 300 years. Surprisingly, most of the collection currently on view today has never been displayed to the public before.

The extensive Greek and Roman collection is showcased throughout a 20,000 square meter space, and offers an impressive variety of artistic subjects and media. Although labels next to each work give viewers relevant information and descriptions, the powerful visual impact and fine composition of some pieces require no explanation at all.
The majestic Ionic column from the Artemis Temple in Sardis, Turkey (300 B.C.) best exemplifies such impact. If its placement in the entrance of the Central Gallery confers it a special presence, it is only by standing in front of the statue, that visitors can realize its exceptional dimensions. Despite the fact that the section on display is only a third of the original twenty-meter column, visitors are deeply captured by its magnitude.

As one proceeds onto the neoclassical court, the elegance of three perfectly sculpted marble figures catches one’s attention. It is a depiction of the Three Graces: Aglaea "Splendor", Euphrosyne "Good Cheer ", and Thalia "Mirth”. The statue dating from the 2nd century A.C. is a copy of a Hellenistic work. The soft lines and perfect proportions of the Graces’ bodies suggest the canons of beauty of the times and evoke the festive atmosphere of Ancient Greece Symphosia.

An Eye to the Glorious Past

The scale of the statues and the solemnity of the Roman busts displayed in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery and Leon Levy and Shelby White Court, take away from the noise of tourists and art aficionados visiting the galleries. Inevitably, the proud expressions and poise of brave warriors and glorious athletes captivate visitors. It is as if by moving toward these works of art, one gradually looses the perception of time and space. The noise starts to fade and one can almost hear the echoes from a far away battlefield.

Statues and objects become immediate conductors to a world that existed thousands of years ago. The marble, ivory, bronze and glass currently on display, once decorated the dwellings of past eras. Today, it is fascinating how one can touch a stone sculpted over 3,000 years ago and stand before a marble bust once admired by the Emperor Augustus. This embodies a fleeting concept of temporality and spatiality that thoughts and words can barely sustain. However, entering the New Greek and Roman Galleries is not a transcendental experience, instead it is a moment of real life worth an hour or a daylong visit. One in which a visitor, endowed with the curiosity of a child, can dream of an ancient journey lasted one thousand years.