Highlights of the Adam Fuss lecture last night included a fantastic UFO photo shown by Fuss and the longest pregnant pause by a public speaker EVER. When Fuss showed the UFO photo, people laughed. He said "Ha Ha" with derision. People laughed again and the stone faced Fuss said "What's funny about that?"
I'm of two minds about this. Perhaps believing in UFO's could be a mark of authenticity- the artist's way of showing how crazy they are- a kind of pissing in the fireplace. On the other hand, maybe not. What we now know about the sheer scale of the cosmos can be a convincing argument for intelligent life from elsewhere. So maybe he is just up on his science.
Fuss answered his own question "What is art?" by saying that for him, it was a kind of mix of the above and below. Also that the artist is "trying to find the door." All of which made a lot of sense. In the Q&A period I asked for examples of painters he liked, after hearing his comment that he is more interested in painting than in photography. Jackson Pollack was foremost. However, what I really wanted to ask was why in his current exhibit at Cheim & Read the single photo of the vagina was on the floor. But I chickened out. Current show announcement above.
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