Frank Holliday’s piece, “The Lingerie Family” intrigued me the most from the MoMA exhibition, Club 57. Holliday created a painting that displays multimedia with both acrylic paint and a video of an eye that was commissioned by a filmmaker, Eric Marciano. At a quick glance, I did not realize that the eye behind the middle person was real but simply thought it was an empty white space. However, as I approached the painting, I realized that the eye moved and blinked showing a real person’s eye. The painting included the eye movements of a live performer, which was Holliday’s eye. The painting also had very bright colors of the three people in the front which contrasted the dark background with different faces behind them. Two of the people within the painting seemed to be customers to the club and the woman to the side seemed to work there. The faces in the background also looked like they represented the audience at the club especially the ones that were near the woman. An interesting detail is the hand that seemed to be holding the turnstile of a wind-up toy which seems to be what the man in the middle represents. However, it can also symbolize Holliday’s opinion on Club 57 as the eye of the man is his eye and it continues to blink and watch the viewer. It was also interesting to see different mediums working together and how it portrayed the overall message of Club 57. The painting also evoked the environment of the club and showed how interactive it was. Holliday’s work also serves as experimenting with new modes of presenting paintings and film by combining the two together to show vibe of the nightclub.
