It may feel like the art of the 70s is long gone -- as dead as its best known progenitor, Andy Warhol -- but, as far as public art is concerned, it’s never been more 1972 than now.
One of the most popular art attractions in Chicago is the sculpture officially called Cloud Gate, but known more widely by its street-cred name “The Bean.” If you wonder why The Bean has supplanted old art stalwarts like the Picasso or the Chagall mosaic as Chi-towns most beloved public art, all you need to do is see how tourists interact with it.
The Bean is popular because it gives us a glimpse of our favorite subject -- ourselves -- which makes it the perfect public sculpture for this era: yet another reflective surface for us gaze at our own reflection. It’s irresistible. Vacation photos now can be the same as your Facebook feed; you making a duck face holding up your cell phone.
In fact, if you can wrest your attention from yourself and look at the other tourists a moment, you’ll be reminded me of another 70s icon: Tommy, the eponymous Pinball Wizard of the rock opera. Like Tommy we have become adept at shutting out the universe in favor of our own reflections.
What we really need in the art world now aren’t more mirrors but an Ann-Margret figure, to fling us bodily into our reflections so we can become pinball….
Well, I’ve bled this metaphor past the point of usefulness, so I’ll leave it at this: If you had told your art teacher 40 years ago that you were going to make a giant mirror and it would become one of the most popular art sculptures of all time, you’d have been laughed out of the studio.
Unless your art teacher was Andy Warhol.
I’m Dan Libman -- deaf dumb and blind boy, not so good at pinball -- and that’s my perspective.
