Comments on: Deconstructing “Night at the Museum” http://lacma.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/a-curator-ventures-into-a-night-at-the-museum/ Mon, 20 May 2013 19:02:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: TallGrrl http://lacma.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/a-curator-ventures-into-a-night-at-the-museum/#comment-480 Sat, 30 May 2009 16:27:36 +0000 http://lacma.wordpress.com/?p=3539#comment-480 Does it really matter? Really?
When children (and adults) see these movies…AND WANT TO GO TO THE MUSEUM…then it doesn’t matter where the art is depicted on the screen.
It’s a MOVIE. And not only is it a movie…it’s a COMEDY movie.
Please. Can we just lay aside the self-important nit-picking for a minute and be grateful that a hit movie (and its sequel) is spotlighting a museum during a time when the Arts are being cut from schools?

]]> By: Donald Frazell http://lacma.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/a-curator-ventures-into-a-night-at-the-museum/#comment-476 Fri, 29 May 2009 15:44:36 +0000 http://lacma.wordpress.com/?p=3539#comment-476 Art School Confidedntial is one of my favorite films, nails the contempt art mentality perfectly. As would be expected with Angelica Huston in the movie, whose husband Robert Graham must have influenced her portrayal, and desire to be in the movie. Malkovichs decadent stupdity perfectly symbolizes the current vacuousness of academic art. When you got Hollywood making fun of you, you know you are in trouble. The murder just an excuse to rag on the arrogance and selfabsorbtion, greater than Film’s even, of the “Fine” art academic/gallery/museum complex.

My wife went to Parsons for one semester, which the film is truly about, and nailed it. She already had a life, having a finance degree and several jobs before going to Parsons. As a gorgeous balck woman with real drawing skills, now a graphic designer with a UCLA degree, they wanted her of course. a true adult in the middle of an overaged daycare center. But life called. which it doesnt to artistes, inward is not the way. Art is out there, far away from the parties and galleries, it is about mind, body and soul. Not the marketing and hype of the shallow art “scene”.

Loved the Triangles! LOL!

art collegia delenda est

]]> By: Michael Buitron http://lacma.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/a-curator-ventures-into-a-night-at-the-museum/#comment-472 Thu, 28 May 2009 18:09:52 +0000 http://lacma.wordpress.com/?p=3539#comment-472 Before returning to art I spent a number of years working in behavioral research. One colleague was always perturbed by Hollywood’s depiction of of psychologists, and the character’s obliviousness to ethical boundaries–like sleeping with a patient. It seems that the only way Hollywood can depict objects and situations from the real world is if it’s stirred in with a heaping dose of the preposterous. Art School Confidential was another film that felt the need to punch up a story (about wacky art students) with a serial killer and undercover cop.

Having only seen the trailer, I couldn’t help but notice how many of the familiar objects were in the public domain. It probably makes things easier for the legal department by not having to obtain permissions from living artists. I doubt Fox was happy asking Sony for permission to feature Archie’s chair or Dorothy’s shoes. Other than Jeff Koons, were there any other contemporary works in the movie?

Koons seems like the kind of artist that would jump at the publicity. I can’t imagine Charles Ray’s mannequin family springing to life (or Fox wanting them). Likewise I have don’t imagine Robert Graham (or his estate) allowing one of his athletic nudes to jump to life.

]]>