As you know, I was headed to the NYPL yesterday. But while on the train I changed my mind and from GCT veered off toward the Whitney. Too many new and interesting exhibitions beckoned: Edward Hopper, a River Phoenix doppelganger video by Ed Lachman, Paul Thek (almost lost but not forgotten, at least by the Whitney). Oh and a solo show of Sara VanDerBeek's work, which I thought I wanted to see ( but I was wrong).
I was particularly intrigued by the description of an exhibition by Lee Friedlander. It was called, America by Car. And it was terrific. Although the photos look simple and stark, they are actually full of detail. Some scenes are framed in the windshield and/or the side windows, while others appear in the rear view mirror. I went around trying to identify the state in which each photo was taken, which was fun for a while -- until I became frustrated at not getting any of them right.
At one point, I was getting up close and personal with a photo taken in Alaska when I heard this very loud NY voice behind me. It sounded like she was using a megaphone. She said, "You know what I don't like about these photos? There's just too much car. Look! There's a car in every photo. Nope, just too much car."
What, you might wonder, popped into my mind as her words reverberated around the gallery? Well, I'll tell you. I thought of my (then six year old) nephew Soren, who while riding in his family car one day, commented on the cursing of the driver (his mother, yelling at another driver). Soren said, "Everyone's a critic." And that's what I thought yesterday.
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