I certainly don’t begrudge the MFA’s not wanting to alienate people. But my own experience - as a critic, as a father - is that if you spend too much time patting people on the head, they will sooner or later tell you to buzz off.
The patting on the head comes in the form of wall texts that, while admirably clear and unpretentious, can err on the side of the fatuous: “There are no set rules here … It’s about triggering responses, forging a connection - with you,’’ we read at one point. And later: “Anything is fair game.’’ One gallery’s thematic title is: “What’s It About?’’ Another’s is: “Art can …’’ It’s hard to shake off the feeling that whoever’s talking to you thinks you’re in second grade.
Open spaces The galleries have no fixed beginning or end. But the part of the display that most people will see first is the Eunice and Julian Cohen Galleria, a long, open atrium with two levels that doubles as a social space (bookshop, cafe, restaurant, education center). Most of the walls here were not previously available for displaying art. Now, a selection of text-based works, many utilizing neon, have been installed.
The two centerpiece works in the installation, called “Sparking Dialogue,’’ are Maurizio Nannucci’s neon sign spelling out “All art has been contemporary,’’ and Jeppe Hein’s wall sign, also in neon. Hein’s work starts with the word “Please’’ followed by “Enjoy, Relax, Dance, Touch, Flirt, Wonder, Feel,’’ and so on. (These words are interspersed with a few scattered naughty words, like “Steal,’’ “Smoke,’’ and “Flash,’’ that have been dutifully crossed out.)
Both pieces are so eager to please, so “museum-ready,’’ that the possibility they might unfurl in the imagination as art is zero. If the MFA so desperately wanted to convey these messages, it should have had its graphic designers simply inscribe them on the walls.
