"just because I like it doesn't mean it's art
and just because it's art doesn't mean I like it"
--Tracy (02-16-2008)

"Steve Martin and Christopher Lloyd Body Surf at a Superman Convention"

What is this? For some reason I feel like all the blue and red people in the background are youngsters, while the two men in the white suits represent Authoritah. And yet, on closer inspection, those white suits are not what Men In Power wear. Perhaps this was just a casual-wear ad gone awry.

"Punched in the Gut"

A single word with emotive impact displayed in a high-contrast color scheme. It made me laugh. It made me think. Well, no, not really, but it did make me laugh. And it was across the room from the solid blue square that was supposed to represent the daunting freedom of reality or something, so the fact that this guy had a sense of humor was a relief.

"A Vague Paranoia"

If this feeling is going to hit me, it usually comes around 5:00 AM. It's clearly not time to get up for work, and yet another chunk of deep, restful sleep is out of the question. So my brain finds something to do...

"Fifteen Minutes Would Have Been About Right"

Of all the artists who have ever lived, Warhol is the one whose career strikes me as most likely to have been an elaborate prank of some kind.

"The Electoral Map As Seen After Dropping Acid"

This was pretty striking in person. It doesn't come through in this picture, but the layering of the various paint colors under the stenciled state names gave it a weird 3-D feeling to it. Pretty neat. Oh, anyplace where the map is streaked indicates that the GOP is trying to rig elections in that area.

"Beautiful Woman Consults Map"

Representing the split between our conscious and subconscious selves, only the shoulders and head of this woman appear sharp and focused, while the remainder of her body is washed out by the curved glass beneath the railing. Meanwhile, she holds the map to one side. Is she about to spring upwards to chart a new destiny? Or will she remain stationary, pondering truths we, the observer, can only guess at?

"Snowball Milk Jug"

As I walked up to this video exhibit, a woman was gathering up her two enrapt children and escorting them away from the monitor. Nothing to see here, kiddies. Move along.

"Fractured Self"

As philosopher Daniel Dennett demonstrates ably in Consciousness Explained, the unity of our conscious experience is an illusion. We are, each of us, a narrative woven together from fragments. This notion is ably portrayed in this photograph, where the suggested unity of the subject is exploded in a prismatic display of perspective and angles and echoes. One of the better pieces we saw this weekend.

"I Am Precious And Clever And Subversive"

Who is Dave and how can he help? We don't know, for the author of this request is nowhere to be found and has left us little clue to his identity, except for the suggestion that he is very tall.

"Yeah? Well I'm Famous And You're Not, so HAH!"

This is one of Jackson Pollack's famous "There was all this paint around and I just lost my shit" paintings. Believe it or not, it's pretty cool. I just kind of stood there and stared at it and let my mind wander. One minute it was a jungle, next I saw what looked like graffiti, and then it was an aerial view of an urban landscape. Certainly an interesting experience. Although, on the other hand, this was the piece that led Tracy to deliver the quote at the top of the page...

"Starry Night"

What? You were expecting snark for Van Gogh? I think not.

"Your Aquarium Needs Cleaning"

According to Tracy, this is from Monet's "water lilies" series. Honestly, my first thought was "map of the world" and my second guess was "coral reef". I mean, it's pretty enough, but "water lilies" is not what springs to mind.

"It Takes A Steady Hand"

We saw this in one of the architecture wings. I've always had a thing for this kind of blocky, modern design, and yet if this were my apartment building, I'd live in constant fear of a giant coming along and deciding to play Jenga! with me and my neighbors.

"The Missing Bulb Formation"

Ah, yes, now we're getting into the sort of thing that really gives "modern art" it's sketchy reputation. A pile of light bulbs at the foot of an ascending strand of same. And no, I have no idea whether the one bulb being out is intentional or not.

"Dude, I Bet If I Shit In A Can MoMA Would Buy It"

The front of this canister reads "Merda d'artista". I was like, no, that can't mean what I think it does. Can of shit: Art? Or not art? You make the call.

"Misguided Defiance"

This work beautifully conveys the manner in which the adolescent urge to defy authority so often finds targets that are entirely beside the point. You can almost hear the "Huh huh. Uh-huh huh huh..." murmuring in the background.

"Bosch Meets Gieger: Wallpaper Ensues"

When I walked into the room papered with this -- the World's Greatest Wallpaper -- I was at first overwhelmed by the details of the work without actually perceiving them. After I realized that it was, in fact, a repeating pattern, I was able to get my bearings and focus on individual panels. That's when my jaw dropped and I started laughing like an idiot...

In this scene, flies are depicted walking away from a man's anus as if departing an altar having receiving communion.

A group of happy turds go fishing for human skeletal remains.

Two women with elongated rectangular boobs look on as a third woman is strapped to a moose by having her distended nipples tied together.

"Just Another Day in the Greatest City in the World"

Here, the grid of the window panes is bisected by a diagonal procession of cabs making their way along the larger, unseen grid of mid-town Manhattan's streets. Form, order, chaos, order, and form are all evoked in a single frame. Metropolis in microcosm. This really should win an award.

"Romance Endures"

The observer has no knowledge of who "TS" and "JS" are, only that their love -- and more, their sense of romance -- has endured for half a decade and counting, prompting the female of the pair to return to this bathroom wall half a dozen times and leave her mark.