Art to Lift the Spirit of Modern Man

Wow, what an exhibit at MOMA! Plot and Duck got to go to the Press Opening yesterday of the first part of Donald Fisher's monumental modern and contemporary art collection, all of which has been given to MOMA and is scheduled to be eventually housed in a brand new wing of the museum, but a part of which opens to the public Friday on the 3rd and 4th floors and sculpture garden.

Who knew about this stuff? Claes Oldenburg's snake necktie above? Chuck Close's outrageous portraits -- here are three views so you can see what this guy does to uncover an image...





...Wayne Thibault's crazy-eye view of the hills of Saint Plotniko...





The list goes on and on. Frank Stella.




Roy Liechtenstein. True, the guard was bored out of her mind.



Alexander Calder.



And of course, two views of a sculpture in the outdoor garden. The artist's original is on top and his New Improved Version follows.




Most of this art is by men, and all the huge canvases were by men. Does this say anything about art or is it about politics? Don't know.

There were a few The Chief's Nightmare rooms. Plotnik's late stepdad truly despised that branch of minimalist modern art that considers a blank wall with a frame around it to be artful. He would have really hated what Plotnik called The Squiggle Room -- the artist is Cy Twombly. Cy Twombly could not possibly have had children or he would never have had the chutzpah to put any of this in a frame.




But that's what is cool about art. You like it. You don't like it. The Emperor is wearing a brilliant costume or somebody just ran off with his underwear. (There is a lot of Andy Warhol in the exhibit. Plotnik can't stay in the same room for ten seconds with Andy Warhol, so no pictures here.)

You can have it however you like it. You can have your apple and eat it too.