subway stuff

At the Met today, the Mabuse (Jan Gossaert) exhibition – Mannerism defined as nature abhors a vacumn and elongated figures – textures of garments exatraordinary—sweetness of Virgin’s face – and a few “disguised portraits” when the sitter is disguised as, say, Mary Magdalen or the Virgin. The small dance you have to do to read the label when far taller persons are scooting behind you and above you to peer at the same thing.

In the ongoing saga of the Smithsonian exhibition called “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” the artist AA Bronson requested that the photograph of his partner “Felix, June 5, 1994” which shows him shortly after he died of AIDS. This was to protest the removal of another work because the religious right had insisted it be removed: this was a video by the artist David Wojnarowicz portraying ants crawling over a crucifix. The request for the second removal was rejected, but Mr. Bronson’s lawyer informed him that his moral rights guaranteed he could withdraw his work if he so chose….” This is the way the case stands on December 21, 2010.

And here’s something about the Train of Thought., a program that had been placing literary quotes in subways cars, after the program Poetry in Motion had run from 1992 t 2008.  More problematic still, the Metropollitan Traffic Authority (the MTA) has now removed all the placards which had been affixed to the subway walls featuring various literary quotations.These quotes, of which The latest version of the literary quotes was ready in October and handed in (excerpts from Rilke, T.S. Eliot, and Epictetus) They need the room, says the MTA, to place information about the transportations itself. Sample of their unforgettable style: “If it’s broke, fix it.” Very moving..