I need some DL tastemakers to weigh in on this art installation
HUDSON, N.Y. — Earlier this year, an ailing 140-year-old hemlock tree died at Olana State Historic Site, the idyllic former estate of Frederic Church, a leading figure of the 19th-century Hudson River School. It was a significant loss, for reasons ecological, aesthetic and sentimental. Having stood sentinel on the lawn right outside Church’s fabled Persian-inspired villa, the hemlock was a living artifact of his artistic ambition, as well as his lesser-known proto-conservationist efforts, and was planted at a time when his attention had turned from painting detailed landscapes to designing them.
But as one chapter in the tree’s distinguished life ended, a vital new one began in the hands of a contemporary artist, Jean Shin, who is known for her large-scale installations made from society’s discards. Shin spent the early spring working on the green lawn of Church’s house-museum, where she transformed the once-majestic conifer into a site-specific sculpture. The muscular 40-foot trunk now lies atop two small boulders and has been meticulously fit with a patchwork of leather in shades of lemon yellow and sky blue. Shin arranged its bark in delicate piles beneath it, as though the specimen had shed its shell and undergone a magnificent metamorphosis.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 31 | May 4, 2021 6:41 PM
|
So pretentious and douchey as are all the people standing around it.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 3, 2021 9:47 PM
|
It looks like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 3, 2021 9:55 PM
|
She was the wrong choice for this commission, someone like Andy Goldsworthy would have been more appropriate. There should have been an honoring of the natural materials, not a desecration of them. If it needed to be an Asian American woman they should have gone with Maya Lin. Her Ghost Forest is a better example of what should have been achieved.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 3, 2021 10:18 PM
|
Would a conservationist concerned about the earth really want a dead tree covered in the skins of cows?
It looks like an unfortunate craft project circa 1974.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 3, 2021 10:21 PM
|
Agreed. Wrong artist. Glory of nature and the power of natural beauty is Church's vision and celebration. This work, which certainly has merits, offers none of that in the spirit of its place and history. Unfortunate. Opportunity lost.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 3, 2021 10:24 PM
|
R8 That's a thoughtful art installation.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | May 3, 2021 10:36 PM
|
NY artist Roxy Paine would have been a perfect artist for the commission as well, his work honors the legacy of Church and would have been a piece that would be eternal in honoring the tree.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 10 | May 3, 2021 10:37 PM
|
Joesph Wheelright is another artist that would have been a better choice. I haven’t worked in the arts in decades yet Goldsworthy, Lin, Paine and Wheelright were all choices I came up with in twenty minutes thinking about this. If the Olana curators couldn’t identify someone better, they should have gotten help from nearby Storm King, where many of these artist have works displayed and other artist more appropriate as well. Art Historian and curator jobs are hard to come by, but whoever made this choice should be fired.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 11 | May 3, 2021 10:45 PM
|
[quote] I think that I shall never see.
[quote] A poem lovely as a tree.
These rich fetishists destroy the poetry.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 3, 2021 10:47 PM
|
I like the concept, but the execution is totally wrong. It will look like shit and the leather will rot in a couple of seasons.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 3, 2021 10:49 PM
|
'Charles,' said Cordelia, 'Modern Art is all bosh, isn't it?' 'Great bosh.' 'Oh, I'm so glad. I had an argument with one of our nuns and she said we shouldn't try and criticize what we didn't understand. Now I shall tell I have had it straight from a real artist and snubs to her.'
E. Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (1945), pg. 177
by Anonymous | reply 15 | May 3, 2021 10:58 PM
|
So many untalented middle class want to be artists.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | May 3, 2021 11:00 PM
|
16 posts and no one has mentioned ME??!?!?!!
by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 3, 2021 11:05 PM
|
I think it’s interesting.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 3, 2021 11:09 PM
|
R18 Why do you think it’s interesting?
Would you buy it? Would you put it in your living room or your back yard?
by Anonymous | reply 19 | May 3, 2021 11:11 PM
|
Hideous.
And remove those cunts from my lawn, please. The grass will never grow back once they piddle on it.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | May 3, 2021 11:15 PM
|
A Keebler elf would've been a better choice.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | May 4, 2021 5:00 AM
|
That looks absolutely nothing like Lucille Ball.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | May 4, 2021 2:19 PM
|
It's temporary, I hope?
Because what happens if you leave colored leather out in the New England weather for a decade or two?
by Anonymous | reply 25 | May 4, 2021 2:22 PM
|
R25 Olana is in NY, but I get your point, though decay might be part of the installation. I guess I need to go look at what the artist’s statement is for the piece.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | May 4, 2021 2:45 PM
|
I'll be running for Mr. Gay New York this year. Do wish me well!
by Anonymous | reply 27 | May 4, 2021 2:56 PM
|
In lieu of an artist’s statement I did find this video, which does go into the symbolism and sourcing of the leather providing better justification for the piece. But I would rather have seen her done something more similar to what she did at Storm King. Ultimately, the execution and the finished work seem off and missing the impact that should have happened with the piece. It’s definitely the weakest piece in her oeuvre.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 28 | May 4, 2021 3:27 PM
|
Well don't just sit there like a brass studded leather patchwork bump on a log ....
by Anonymous | reply 29 | May 4, 2021 5:01 PM
|
It's a shitty upholstery job on a dead tree.
The "art" part was finding (sourcing?) an Asian woman with a tack hammer and the effrontery to call herself an artist.
Pretty sure Church would have been deeply annoyed to see that on his lawn.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | May 4, 2021 5:37 PM
|
It looks like Satan's Sybian.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | May 4, 2021 6:41 PM
|