Photo: Richard Perry/The New York Times
Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, in the Times today talking about commissioning a portrait by Julian "Mr. MasterCard" Schnabel for the 40th anniversary of Placido Domingo's first performance at the Met . . .
"He [Gelb] added: 'The Met has a long history of very large and not necessarily well-painted portraits of singers in costume. Some of them are quite good, but some are the painting equivalent of what you’d see in a wax museum.' Ever since Mr. Gelb took over in 2006, the Met has reached out to visual artists; in approaching Mr. Schnabel, the opera house was hoping to buff up its collection still further, Mr. Gelb said, and to expand on its mission of rebuilding connections to contemporary culture and society."
Heh.
Lowest ticket price for Plácido Domingo's 40th Anniversary Celebration: $1,500. Keeping traditions alive: Priceless.
hat tip: C-Monster
2 comments:
Nice!!
Gotta love how he basically says, "We've got a lot of junk here already, so might as well put some more crap in."
You know you're an indestructable commodity when your commissioned work is heralded as being in the company of "not necessarily well painted" works.
Isn't there now an almost unanimous call for Schnabel to stick to film and design fab Pepto Bismol pink west village condos?
Ol's
I laughed all over again when I read it tonight.
And you KNOW I'm down with your call for restrictions.
Post a Comment