Victor's Commentary & Photos continued...

Victor, Romina + Friends at the MET during Robert Rauschenberg Exhibit

This trip made me very happy and proud to be a curator. At this juncture in history we are in the most dire need of cultural and intellectual exchange and a fostering of a focus upon the humanities as opposed to the world of force and profit. These experiences should be available to more than just the elite of the art buying world and set in contexts that make it clear that these avenues of expression are available to anyone who is willing to take the time to think, educate and express themselves. The art world needs to be explored by more people of more varied backgrounds. I noticed that the majority of people at this fair were white people and fairly well off at that. There needs to be more out reach to more diverse communities and further development of new viewing, new discussion, new criticism and new art from people outside of the traditional art world. The Armory and the other fairs are supposed to be public showcases for new art. I saw no street/graffiti artists represented except for Shepard Fairey, no street dancers, no street musicians or DJs and basically a format which showcased mostly retail oriented art at high dollar ranges for the affluent. One juried section at Scope yielded some interesting stuff including a few performance pieces, but the ticket prices to the fair were prohibitive to many and I'm sure there were no outreach programs to the less monied areas of New York.

Despite my social criticisms of the events I still had a great time and was often overwhelmed with beauty. For some reason, while stopping through the Cyprus room on my way to the Rauschenberg exhibit, I was moved to tears. Something about the shifting of appearing and disappearing cultures, the wars both historical and recent, especially in the region of the world in which the work existed, having witnessed the changes between, Greek, Islamic and Christian cultures made me see that all of these attempts at political control over each other are somehow useless and feeble in the face of a good piece of art or literature, or just seeing the look on someone's face as they take in a timeless work. The experience becomes a kind of timeless consciousness machine. (continued below...)

--Victor Sheely Morales, Gallery Director, ADM PROJECT