David Shapiro at Pierogi - he's constructed a miniature stageset for a pretend Rock Iraq benefit concert... it's an empty stage... no musicians, no stars... lots of corporate sponsorhip logos.
The room is quiet except for the loop of a roaring crowd... applauding with pleasure, satisfaction and triumph, calling for more. Really smart sendup... and this back-room sculpture in a hard-to-find Brooklyn gallery is an even more ineffectual statement than what it satirizes... which I guess is part of the point.
The
gallery's website describes it best -
"It exists as a tabletop model to American ambiguity, assuaging guilt, displaying compassion, condemning failure, and inventing triumph."Complicating the piece further is that the would-be purchaser is also a part of the joke... buying into the position of becoming what is criticized.
UPDATE: i keep reading this and wondering if it makes any sense. i understand what my idea is, but am not sure if it is coming across.
this piece is like the opposite of the andreas hofer experience, in that the more i think about it the more excellent and complicated it becomes.
backstage...
barely noticeable oil drums, army helmets, backpacks...
too good.
