Yesterday I went to the Whitney because I’m a lady, and that’s what ladies do on cold Sunday afternoons.
I hadn’t been to a museum with an admission fee in a long time and I was reminded of the class divide in art. My mom is an artist and I like art, but let’s be real: art is a pleasure for the rich. The patrons at the museum wore Gucci scarves and stylish haircuts. Even the ticket takers looked like NYU Art History majors, unaware or indifferent to the fact that taking tickets at a museum is still a job taking tickets. Museums are always asking for contributions, but I wonder who those gifts are for. Donating to a museum is effectively giving money to a leisure activity of the rich.
And it’s not just rich versus poor at the museum. There’s also the divide of couples and singles. About half the people there look like they had spent the morning in bed and were eager to get back there. The other half were on the prowl. That half was mostly gay. The rest of the museum’s guests are Asian. There’s something vaguely racist going on with the Asian tourist stereotype. What’s so bad about not being white and enjoying travel and digital cameras?
In less social conscious news, my plus one spotted Chloë Sevigny at the Whitney. I followed her to confirm, and I’m pretty sure she was with Born Rich Johnson