Museum Mile Festival

On Tuesday I went to the Museum Mile Festival with my friend I hadn't seen in 2 years (we took dance classes together for years throughout school and have collectively worn approximately 22,000 sequins). From 6-9pm various museums had free entry and sponsored activities both inside the museums and outside of Central Park. Unfortunately the weather on Tuesday was pretty stormy but this didn't stop swarms of people from lining up to get into the participating museums. The line to get into the Guggenheim Museum was about 2 city blocks long which wouldn't have been so bad but some dude kept repeatedly hitting me in the head with his umbrella. Clearly I love festivals that involve waiting in line for long amounts of time with unpleasant people (i.e. The Great Googa Mooga Festival where I waited ~1 hour for a drink, 45 min for a chicken sandwich, and an indefinite amount of time to regain my sanity).

“Art of Another Kind: International Abstraction and the Guggenheim, 1949-1960” 

The highlight of my Museum Mile Festival experience was visiting the Guggenheim Museum. I do have to admit that I'm more than a little biased, having interned there not once but two times (because in addition to my clear passion for waiting in long lines, I also just love being a perpetual intern). I'm definitely really into the contrast of awesome architecture + well curated art exhibitions. Also I totally got yelled at for taking some of the pictures above. What I lack in delinquency and lawlessness IRL, I apparently make up for as soon as I enter a museum. My brazen art student snobbishness immediately sets in and to the dismay of the museum guards I can be found justifying my behavior by loudly declaring "What Would Alexander Brener Do?!"

Kehinde Wiley, Kalkidan Mashasha (The World Stage: Israel), 2011, oil and gold enamel on canvas. Private Collection. © Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California.

Hands down, my favorite works of art that I saw at the Museum Mile Festival were Kehinde Wiley's paintings at the Jewish Museum. I'm just a Kehinde Wiley superfan. Ever since seeing his work at the Brooklyn Museum I can't stop loving him. Everything is just so elaborate and decorative and AWESOME. His paintings are large and in charge and it's great to be able to get up close to appreciate the crazy detail of his backgrounds and the realism of his models. I want to kiss his paintings. If I was an objectum sexualist, we'd be Facebook official.

Other notable parts of the Museum Mile Festival: Lots of adorable old people, "Women's Work" at the National Academy Museum, getting shut out of the Neue Galerie at 7:55pm (What else should I expect from baby haters? JK but not really...), live music at the National Academy and outside the Guggenheim, big crowds making me feel claustrophobic, coming down with museum fatigue, and of course, getting to see art at world-renowned museums for free.

"Phyllida Barlow: siege" at The New Museum

The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City via Guardian.


Going to museums is one of those things most New Yorkers say they wish they'd do more often. And the first thing you should know is that I am not exempt from most New Yorkers. Yesterday I actually remembered that the New Museum has its free hours from 6-9pm on Thursdays. Actually that's a complete lie, the New Museum's Twitter reminded me because I am entirely dependent on social media to know where I should be and when. 

“Phyllida Barlow: siege,” 2012. Exhibition view: New Museum. Photo: Benoit Pailley.


The "Phyllida Barlow: siege" exhibit on the fourth floor was probably my favorite of what was on view. The sculptures right when you get out of the elevator looked like magnets (yes, I made an ICP joke at the museum and we can't be friends if you don't know what joke I'm talking about). They were pretty jarring because of their size. If art could puff up its chest and come at you bro, these guys would.

"Phyllida Barlow: siege," 2012. exhibition view: New Museum. Photo: Benoit Pailley.

There was also a hanging sculpture or death trap as I lovingly called it that was very disconcerting. I walked under it with no worries because I'm still in that "nothing can hurt me because I am invincible" phase of life. Typically what I look for at a New Museum exhibit is artwork that looks like a rainbow threw up on itself or work that makes me fear for my life. The New Museum usually succeeds at both. Pretty consistently so, in fact. Take Carsten Höller's slide at his solo exhibit that closed last January. I had to suit up in a helmet and burlap sack to drop down 3 stories through museum concrete. I haven't worn a helmet in years, not because I don't practice bicycle safety but because I can't really actually ride a bike (more on this later). And Lynda Benglis's show at the New Museum last year. You can't tell me this does not look like one of those memory candles you made for your best friend at her sweet sixteen. All it's missing is glitter (don't worry Lynda Benglis likes to get her glitter on too) and the letters "BFF," a stray maraschino cherry stem, and a picture of Leo DiCaprio cut out from a magazine.

Carsten Höller's slide at the New Museum.

Lynda Benglis at the New Museum.