Earth Day
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| Raqib Shaw, Space Between Dreams—The Pragmatic Pessimist, 2022-23. Tapestry. Collection of the artist |
The staircase of Henry and Arabella Huntington's home is showing two environment-themed tapestries by Raqib Shaw, holdovers from his recent Huntington exhibition. Space Between Dreams—The Pragmatic Pessimist finds polar bears crowding onto shrinking ice floes. The artist warms himself by burning art books.
The companion weaving, Space Between Dreams—The Perseverant Prophet, imagines the world ending in fire. A fire hurricane sets books ablaze; the Tower of Babel looms in the distance. Though the subject is uncomfortably close to L.A.'s January fires, Shaw drew on John Martin's The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum (1822) for the landscape and sky.
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| Raqib Shaw, Space Between Dreams—The Perseverant Prophet, 2022-23. Tapestry. Collection of the artist |
Comments
As for LACMA's American collection, it has a subpar Thomas Winslow (which years ago made me wince too), just the opposite of another Winslow purchased for them in the past 30 years.
The judgment of the gatekeepers in the world of arts and culture, including museums and their directors or curators, sometimes is a "what were they thinking!?" moment. Particularly when they filter in artworks that are both technically and creatively so-so or even bad.
However, lack of money, tax deductions, insider deals or FOMO-type desperation will do that. Or maybe just bad taste too---yea, okay, beauty - or talent/politics - is altogether in the eye of the beholder.