Steve and I have been visiting Jeff in NYC. The Guggenheim was our first museum stop. The building is famous for good reason. We all really enjoyed out time in it.

Christopher Wool is the artist featured in the special exhibit now hanging along the curved walls on the walkway from floor to ceiling level.

What can I say? His works are visible from a distance which is good in this space.

I did like several of the pieces…

However, I enjoyed watching people look at the art more than I actually enjoyed the art itself.

It’s easy to ask yourself exactly what makes this art. Certainly, that thought went through my mind. Maybe this artist was the first to do word art? Probably not.

I liked the starkness of the black and white pieces. A whole lot of his work reminded me not so much of quilts, but of printed fabric. He did base a few pieces on re-workings of his older canvases into new pieces which is an interesting idea.

As I said, I liked many of his pieces but if I had seen them out of this context, I would not have considered them obivious subjects for museum display. Without knowing more, I have to assume that a lot Christopher Wool’s success comes from being in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. Once annointed, his art became ART.

This city is full of eye candy. There are patterns and textures and interesting things to see no matter where you look. Nearly everyone has a camera. The line that separates ART worthy of hanging in a museum from cool pictures that end up on a computer’s desktop is a thin one.

Is this 6′ canvas art?:

Or is it a just an interestly-cropped and tweaked photo of the poles and cords for the ticket line?

Looking at modern art is good for me. It is a reminder that I do not get to decide what art is for anyone except for myself, and that’s enough for me :-).