MOCA Proves That Naked Ladies Still Shock Art Patrons
MOCA's annual gala was Saturday night, and it apparently caused some ruffled feathers.
Curated by performance artist Marina Abramovic, the event, entitled "An Artist’s Life Manifesto," started off typically enough, with cocktails, mingling, and polite, art-y conversation.
But according to a write-up in the New York Observer by Susan Michals, as guests moved into the dining area, they were met with a few unwelcome surprises. Naked ladies were lying on the center of some tables, each with a skeleton draped over her. At other tables, actors' heads protruded from the middle and rotated, as they sat in slowly spinning Lazy Susans positioned under the table.
The Observer says that some art patrons' hands immediately went to their pearls: "Ms. Abramovic...caused us all a bit of initial shock."
Eventually, she says, guests settled in and dined, but we have to ask -- are semi-covered nude women at a modern art gala really all that shocking? Why, just a few years ago it was in vogue to serve sushi on them at Hollywood parties. Perhaps guests would have done better to take a moment and be thankful that they weren't eating dinner across from, say, a canvas full of elephant dung.
