Life's Persistent Questions

April 27, Shea Stadium

It was a miserable day at the Shea Stadium. It was a crowded afternoon game to be sure, and a near-sellout. My seat was back row of mezzanine section at near left foul pole. Sitting with another level hanging over my head, I had no light (though it was a cloudy day). It was a depressing without the sky. I actually went to the upper reserve to get some fresh air for the last two innings. Shea Stadium was entirely without any remarkable characteristic other than the spikes they had installed on all of the buttresses. Jets are constantly flying over the stadium from the nearby LaGuardia Airport. Only inches from the outfield wall, the new Shea Stadium was under construction and due to open next year. It has the brick-laid exterior that has come to be ubiquitous with every baseball stadium constructed since the mid 1990’s.

Before the game, I went to the International Photography Center. While my last experience there was eye opening, the exhibit on this day left much to be desired. Color me jaded, but sometimes I would just like to be awed by stunning scenes and amazing moments captured in a photographer’s lens. Instead, the ICP’s current exhibit was titled “Archive.” The pieces conveyed the artists’ own interpretation of the meaning and authenticity of record-keeping and documentation. Was this post-modern or maybe post-post-modern where anyone with half of an idea and some contrived or ironic explanation can be an artist?

posted by hedgehog @ 9:22 PM