New York is a city of art. With so many exhibitions held at the same time, the only thing you need to worry about is not having enough time to visit them all. Some exhibitions are quite big, like the Met Gala or the Whitney Biennial; some are rather small, like those in the galleries in Chelsea. Not only can you get an idea of what is happening in the art world in America, but you can also steep yourself in the art scene.
As an art lover, I follow art news and new expo information zealously so that I won’t miss out on anything. Last week, I read an article in the New York Times in which Tilda Swinton, the British actress, was interviewed about an art show she is curating in New York which opened Friday. The title of the exhibition is Orlando, inspired by Virginia Woolf novel of the same name, as well as the 1992 Sally Potter film adaptation, in which the lead role was played by Tilda Swinton. I love the story a lot, so I decided to go to the exhibition on its opening day.
The exhibition was of medium size. Swinton had invited 11 artists to create pieces based on the story of Orlando. In the story, Orlando, a 17th Century male aristocrat, turns into a woman after a long sleep and lives like that for another 300 years. Readers throughout history have usually read it as a gender-defying, gender-bending and gender-fluid story, but in her interpretation, Ms. Swinton sees the story as dealing with the inevitable and perpetual changes life brings, the growth, transformation and evolution of a person.
As broad as the curator has set the goalposts, most artists have centered their work on the issue of gender, whether it is a cross-dressing model in an androgynous pose, a transgender model posing nude, or a series of photos showcasing the transition of a transgender model. In this sense, the concept of gender is still very much in the air.
To me this outcome was inevitable. Orlando, and its author Virginia Woolf were such trailblazers in their time in terms of the notion of gender, which means it is rather difficult to see it through any other lens. Gender being one of the most perceptible traits of a person that everybody must experience, in our behavior, the way we interact with others, and in our identity, it is very difficult to dismiss.
The message is still compelling, as the transformation of body and the exhibition of body are displayed unapologetically. I know this is also the message the city tries to convey: embrace your body and put it on bold display. As much as it may sound cliché, it still rings true in most cases.
Visited on 2018.05.24. Written on 2018.05.28
