“At first, I was shocked,’’ said Krohn. “Then someone told me, ‘It’s an exhibition.’ That’s kind of cool.’’
Greg Cook, the organizer of the show, is a freelance arts writer and artist in his own right. Cook, 38, has also pushed his cause, “Yokelism,’’ on his blog, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, and recently mounted a successful campaign to get the MFA to restore its local artist award, the Maud Morgan Prize.
He came up with the idea for the exhibit-slash-event after hearing about “Flush With the Walls,’’ held exactly 40 years ago. That show featured six artists who were frustrated with the museum’s lack of commitment to contemporary and local art. Printing invitations on toilet paper, they sneaked into a men’s room at the MFA and installed their works to, as Boston After Dark’s Alicia Faxon wrote, “point out that the men’s room seems to be the only place in the Museum of Fine Arts that an exhibit of contemporary local artists can be seen.’’
The artists recruited by Cook were not quite so frustrated.
“My first thought was, here’s another opportunity to show at the MFA,’’ said painter Laura Chasman, who won the Maud Morgan prize in 2001 and who attended the “Flush With the Walls’’ exhibit as a 24-year-old back in 1971. “I see this as playful and an anniversary. I don’t see this as hostile. I see it as positive. I see it as energetic and a way of reigniting that rebellious show that took place.’’
For his part, Cook talked of the timing of the event. He said Wednesday was perfect because, after 4 p.m., admission fees at the MFA are voluntary and would make it easier to pull off the show. He seemed unconcerned with the conflict with the Stanley Cup Finals and more excited about the larger, historical context. In September 1971, after “Flush With the Walls’’ took place, the MFA created its Department of Contemporary Art. This September, the MFA will open the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art.
