646
PARTISAN REVIEW
on the nature of still life. I was glad to see, in this category, one of
Domenico Gnoli's wry meditations on unseen presences, a painting of an
empty table entitled
Without a Still Life.
In the context of
Objects
oj
Desire,
however, the picture becomes oddly literal, detached as it is from the con–
text of Gnoli's continuing exploration of the implications of empty shirts,
sleepers hidden under bedclothes, and the like. But where was William
Bailey, while we're at it?
On the whole,
Objects
oj
Desire
is more to be savored for individual
works than for the thesis it proposes, although Rowell certainly raises
absorbing questions about the changing meaning of still life over the
course of this century. She also raises other questions-unintentionally.
The show ends with a fairly hit or miss group of works by such current
stars as Robert Gober, who provides an oversized Kleenex box pierced by
a large tube. What they have in common is literalness and gigantism, which
makes you ask whether simply making a functional object so enormous
that it ceases to function is enough to turn it into art. Assuming that any–
thing can be art, the question remains as to whether the result is any good.
Does immensity guarantee aesthetic significance? I'm not certain that
repeat visits to
Objects
oj
Desire
would help to resolve the question. It is,
however, the only museum exhibition I've ever seen with a catering cred–
it-Glorious Food is listed as supplying the fruit and vegetables that
provide notes of color on Mario Merz's spiral glass table.
June, July, August, and the summer's over, but at least one excellent
summer show will be up until November:
The Fields
oj
David Smith,
at the
Storm King
Art
Center. This outdoor installation of seldom-seen large
scale works evokes, without trying to replicate, the celebrated sculpture–
filled fields surrounding Smith's upstate New York studio. Smaller works,
drawings, and photographs within Storm King's gallery building provide a
context. It's not a selection of unequivocal masterpieces-Smith was
famously uneven, although always extraordinarily inventive and original–
but there are many remarkable sculptures, some of which gain a great deal
by being seen with their fellows, in the park-like setting. Smith himself
studied his works out of doors for long periods of time; seeing them
in
daylight, against the hills of Storm King, will sharpen even the most ded–
icated Smith-watcher's understanding of his intentions and his process.
Not to be missed.
