The Arts in New York City

MoMA Photography, 2007

““Photography, 2007” is an exhibit that is located in the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street in Manhattan. I went to the museum on Sunday, November 25, 2007. The normal price range for students with valid IDs is $12.00, but the cultural passport gets the Honors College into the MoMA for free. It contains pictures from various artists, but they range in topics, from the construction of buildings to the skepticism of feminine beauty.
I really did not know what to expect when I walked into the MoMA. I have been to the MoMA before but usually for the paintings and sculptures. I also know about the other exhibits. Evan’s group presented on the Martin Puryear, and this provided me a chance to see that also. I went straight up to the third floor because I did not want to be distracted by the more famous artworks that the MoMA holds in its exhibits.
I walked and picked up a program and realized that the museum held paintings of Picasso and Monet. But u was able to restrain myself from these once-in-a-life-time appearances.
I went into the “Photography, 2007” exhibit and realized that each wall was dedicated to a specific artist. And it did not matter how many photos the artist had they were allowed one wall. Some artists had only one picture on their walls. The photos were not placed in any type of categories or genres. But it seemed to me that these photos were taken of the most random things and put into random positions. I think that some of the photos that were placed in this exhibit were not about content but rather the quality. The images were sharp and clear. Even if the photo itself did not make any sense to me, it still had impeccable detail and picture quality.
The photographs that were shown in this exhibit were not in fact taken in 2007. Actually, not that I think about it, there were no pictures that were taken in 2007. In fact there are some photos that dated back to 1900. But even these old photographs have outstanding picture quality. It makes you wonder how cameras back then had such good resolution.
The specific piece that I chose is about feminine beauty and the how the artist finds ways of altering that image. And in this case there was a transgender woman, and regal blond and three other women. Each had a distinct quality about why they were not considered beautiful. The artist defied the norms and took five pictures of seemingly random people. These pictures are all full length and they catch the viewer’s eye because of the picture quality. They take up one full wall, and the contrast that the white wall gives to the pictures is unheard of. The artist’s name was Tanyth Berkeley and the each piece had a name, Claire, Ariel, Grace, Linda Leven, and Rick Wilder. This was a series of five photographs and it would have been incomplete if the photos were by themselves.
The pictures were all looking toward the viewer with a look of secrecy and that the subjects were hiding something. On the information plaque the viewer is able to see that the artist randomly discovered these subjects and he used a most of them several times in his works. The subjects themselves probably have nothing to do with the idea that they are portraying. “