William T. Wiley
I adore the current William T. Wiley retrospective at the National Museum of American Art, partially because I’m a sucker for all things cartoonesque, but also because he nails what absurdist art should be–namely, an engaging romp through someone’s head, nonsense, contradictions and all. Even the exhibition title, “What’s it all mean?” doesn’t come across as a challenge to the viewer to come up with a plausible answer, but a question he’s been mulling over thoughtfully.
One of the treats of the exhibition are Wiley’s notes–most of his work contains some sort of text wherein heated, and not-entirely-legible debates with himself occur. “No one is going to read all of this!” he proclaims in one piece. In another painting, he chides the viewer for looking at a particular spot on the canvas: “Why are you looking at this? There’s nothing here!”
October 12th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
“Even the exhibition title, “What’s it all mean?” doesn’t come across as a challenge to the viewer to come up with a plausible answer, but a question he’s been mulling over thoughtfully.”
Evidence of thinking, I can dig it. The finding or the process is always more interesting to me than being presented and “answer” anyhows.
I gotta check it out!
October 13th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Yes, go! I think you’d really like it. Great example of how messy the whole thinking process is.
By the way, your poster is framed in my hallway now–looks really good!