Joe Public: Matthew Barney On The Street
For City Pages this week, I wrote about a topic that I've been poking at for at least a decade: public art.
At first glance, public art seems like such a noble act -- it breaks down the museum walls, it opens up the masses to visual discourse, it creates revolution in the streets!
Or it confuses people.
Which is pretty good too.
The point of entry into the conversation is the new Matthew Barney billboard that you'll find on the corner of Hennepin and 12th in downtown Minneapolis. The billboard advertises nothing -- the Walker has been closed for nearly a year while the renovation finishes up. The work is meant to be interpreted as a solitary piece of art, intermingling with the skyline of vodka ads and local tv personality promos. Let's see what the people think:
See also:
The Cremaster Cycle. Great site collecting many of the Cremaster images and themes.
Matthew Barney Gets A Brazilian. Greg.org on de Lama Lamina.
Cremaster Fanatic. Contains a bunch of upcoming iconography and tidbits related to Barney's upcoming work.
Art:21. PBS synopsis of Barney.
Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle. The book.
