Found out via today’s local paper that MMOCA opened “George Segal: Street Scenes” this weekend and will run until December 28th. Segal is well known for using plaster to create life-size figures that he presented together with elements from everyday environments, such as chairs, benches, window frames, and other building fragments. I particularly like how he incorporates his urban vignettes in public spaces and how people interact with them, in essence, becoming a part of the work and the work becoming a part of the community in which it is located.

The exhibition will focus mainly on the works that address commonplace aspects of the city from movie marquees to parking garages, diners, and buses. Starting in the 1970s and continuing through the 1990s, Segal’s work explored the reality of urban decay throughout the twentieth century, with many works focusing specifically on Manhattan’s East Village. Individuals in his works were shown lying on the ground or over subway grates, sitting on stoops, and crossing in front of walls covered with punk graffiti. The plaster or bronze figures are contemplative, sometimes forlorn, and always realistic. As curator Jane Simon states, “The exhibition reveals Segal’s fascination with the darker, seedier side of life.”

As one who is also sometimes fascinated by the darker, seedier side of life, I can’t wait to go check this out.

I need to fly to Paris this fall. Forget the Eiffel Tower, The Moulin Rouge, sidewalk cafes, and the brie. (Ok, maybe not the brie.) The reason I need to go is to see this exhibition of Jeff Koons’ work at the Chateau de Versailles. For those of you who did not take French. This is the royal palace of Louis XIV, “The Sun King”, and is known for its ornate decoration and a is considered by the country as a symbol of French royalty and a cultural treasure.

I love the idea of the juxtaposition between Koons’ works and the surrounding decor of the palace. Koons’ is known as the “king of kitsch” with works including large-scale sculptures based on balloon animals, blow-up pool toys, and assemblages of vacuums. Image his “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” sculpture surrounded by the gilded, rococo style of the Venus Salon and his “Lobster” sculpture hanging next to the ornate crystal chandeliers. . .

Being France, of course there is some opposition to the exhibit. Several dozen people demonstrated outside the palace gates, a protest organized by the National Union of Writers of France, a little-known, right-wing group dedicated to artistic purity in France.
The exhibition “strikes at the heart of a civilization” and “is an outrage to Marie Antoinette,” said Arnaud-Aaron Upinsky, the group’s chairman.

I would love to think about how Marie Antoinette would feel about seeing a giant assemblage of vacuum cleaners among portraits of royal women in the queen’s antechamber.