Hey guys, I just wanted to drop this note to anyone that will be in the Boston area anytime before April 17th, or lives close enough by that they might be willing to make a trip. The DeCordova Art Museum and Sculpture Park is having one of the best exhibitions I have seen in ages. I mean this in the content, selection of artists and palatability of the space. I went with my entire family while I was up there and we all having incredibly different tastes and lengths of attention spans. My attention span is toooo loooooooong. I didn't even finish the exhibition (only two floors) and everyone else was done with the third and wanted to go. But anyways, it is called Pretty Sweet: The Sentimental Image in Contemporary Art. Its excellent. I usually dislike contemporary art because of how artists often decontextualize themselves from society and thier own history and often curators don't negotiate those thought trends in curation, but that's a story for another time. This exhibition was just great fun, very interesting, and about 80% pf the contributing artists were actually good (that's a high amount....trust me). I wish I could scan some images from the catalogue to post, but can't, so here is the site for the museum:

http://www.decordova.com/

and here is the link for the specific exhibition:

http://www.decordova.com/decordova/exhi ... weet05.htm



There is great stuff including an artists who filmed his son with flapping wings and created an installation in a dark room with images of his angel-esque son in several little glass jars (flapping his wings) the way when we were young we would catch fireflies and place them in jars, etc. Very beautiful. The curation is actually pretty strong as well, here's an exerpt from the catalogue:

Why now? What caused this outpouring of sentimental images? Why are we awash in sentimental artworks that celebrate emotion over reason, materiality and handmade object, highly personal content, Beauty, childhood, nostalgia, and a longing for utopia? It may be that many of these sentimental manifestations are a post-9/11 phenomenon. Even the Whitney Museum allowed that many of the works in the 2004 Biennial, "convey an underlying sense of anxiety and uncertainty about the world today."...sentiment found expression in spontaneous installations and memorials. This rapid commemoration was instantaneous and heartfelt, and the makeshift assemblages that appeared on the streets of Manhatten, and around the nation, included flowers, toys, stuffed animals, photographs, and other poignant objects resembling child-like offerings imbued with tenderness and a wish for all things safe and sweet...

Anyways, DeCordova is in Lincoln, MA, which is 15 minutes outside of Boston. Its got a great sculpture park to walk around in as well, and its too bad not that many people know about it because its a very creative and energetic space as far as museums go. Please check out the exhibition before April 17th if you are visiting or nearby and want to try out something new (or old, if you've been there before). Let me know what y'all thought.