I’m writing from my very own desk at the SFMOMA Marketing department. I started here last week and we are currently ramping up for a soon to be released Richard Avedon retrospective. Today I stapled together bits of the press packets and snuck some peaks at the info along the way. Most of my work has been unrelated to the art, which is sad but expected. I did get to go behind the scenes while the Avedon exhibit was being constructed. It was pretty amazing – the cases lifted off old Rolling Stone copies, the elusive prints lying casually against the temporary walls. The trip made me impulsively decide I wanted to be in museum construction, none of this marketing business! Those guys get closer to the pieces and potentially the artists than the curators even! I guess I’ll have to enroll in technical school…
I’m not so sure how I feel about Avedon – maybe I just don’t appreciate the novelty of his work in retrospect. Also, his self-portrait (someone takes himself a bit too seriously….) and his series on the American West reek of pretentiousness to me. I remember seeing the American West series displayed at the Cantor Arts center 2 years ago and I was irked by the word choice in his titles. He made it very obvious what he was trying to say about his subjects – why is this guy so dirty, and what’s with that kooky look in his eye? Title informs us he’s a homeless drifter; Why are these buxom ladies photographed? Avedon says: they are only 14! Such a pity! How come this young man and their dad are dressed so nicely? We are informed of their location – couldn’t be any other church but Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints somewhere in rural Utah. Avedon seemed to be seductively commenting from the position of an elitist photographer about the bitter truth of a stigmatized west. He didn’t present the “common man,” he presented what people in East Coast cities wanted to see – what would tug at their heart strings while also reaffirm cultural & intellectual hierarchies.
So that’s my opinion…what do you think? Any thoughts on Avedon? Am I way out of line?
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