{"id":1541,"date":"2014-08-10T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T22:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talkinggrid.com\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2014-08-11T14:50:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T21:50:21","slug":"witness-mona-lisa-queen-visual-kitsch-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/witness-mona-lisa-queen-visual-kitsch-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness: The Mona Lisa, The Queen of Visual Kitsch, Rule the Universe!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We get out of bed and make our way to the museum early<\/em>. We are on a mission! \u00a0Armed with a marked up map and specific instructions, thanks to Stephanie at Panoramic tours,<\/a> we know just where to go, Underground. It is the most direct route. We were going to see HER.<\/p>\n

\"THE<\/a>
THE LADY with THE ENIGMATIC SMILE. A painting, imbued with a creepy load of personality. \u201cShe,\u201d rules the space around her. Yet… how does a painting become more important than the living, breathing, beings that bestow her power?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, we did not expect to have any, “alone time” with her. \u00a0We knew that she is “everybody’s darling.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

What we got was much worse… we were reminded of how meaningless, insignificant, and trite our Bucket Lists are. \u00a0We were, 100% a part of the herd of humanity, snapping an image of La Gioconda, before being pushed out of the way by the next, equally determined tourist\/pilgrim with a smart phone or a canon camera, at the ready.<\/p>\n

\"Once,<\/a>
Once, she was stolen, by a \u201ccrazy Italian,\u201d convinced that she wanted to go home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(FOOL! She loves to be up there, behind bullet-proof glass, the absolute center of an ongoing panic, a perpetual craze, which occurs with clocklike regularity, from the moment the museum opens, until the last tour bus leaves, in the world famous and celebrated Louvre Museum<\/a>, in Paris, France.)<\/p>\n

Seeing her… I did NOT see her. She was invisible. I saw the flash of cameras, the crazed LOOK of… hunger? Yes, HUNGER for… what? Recognition, perhaps… we seek to see THE ORIGINAL, THE MOTHER IMAGE from which all the tacky little key chains, coffee mugs, calendars, and other scraps or fragments of the sacred, the untouchable, THE ORIGINAL, the a priori<\/em>\u00a0… which is stamped on the faces of the ART STARVED crowds… \u201cArt starved?\u201d You ask… Well… Yes, that is what I witnessed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I saw adult infants reaching for the teat of certified beauty and established aesthetic certainties<\/strong>. The queen of conformity, The Mona Lisa is the mental rabbit foot, the proof that one is CULTURED, cultivated, worthy of living. Having documented the sight of her with a selfie, we are FREE, to turn on backs—forever—on the little revered painting by Leonard d’ Vinci<\/a>, the original Renaissance Man. (I believe, we all want some of the milky charm that sprays from this eternal fountain.)<\/p>\n

\"DSC00071\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She and she alone sits and is worshiped by i-phone clicks and selfie sticks, wielded with an alarming lack of grace. She is photographed so many times per day, and visited by so many people, NONE of whom really see her. Instead, they ignore each other, pulling and tugging—fighting—to see her?<\/p>\n

We all wish to solve the mystery. She is a treasure, that is for certain. \u00a0Yet, why<\/em>? How is it that a painting can stimulate such visual appetite, cultural hunger? \u00a0The standing whiff of desperation around her is a grand spectacle. Frau Kolb was a part of it; flaunting her own needy and naked desire to be beautiful, famous, loved, and celebrated. We all want a piece of that excitement.<\/em> The thrill of being seen as significant, worthy, ein Schatz<\/em> (which means, “a treasure,” in German). We all want to be valued, special, celebrated or at least accepted. Don\u2019t we?\"IMG_9321\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, long ago, a German cultural critic,\u00a0Walter Benjamin<\/a>\u00a0(15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) wrote an essay which, I\u2019ve tried to read, many times. Yet, I simply don\u2019t understand it. He speaks about, \u201cthe Aura,\u201d of the work of art and… how that aura was lost via reproduction, which is not… or is… I can\u2019t tell which… a BAD thing. Opps! (I know… I studied art history, I really should be able to understand what Benjamin<\/a> or Theodor W. Adorno<\/a>, who responds to him. “Art in the Age of Mechanical \u00a0Reproduction<\/a>,” \u00a0is the article by Benjamin which I regret falling to comprehend, because that is the heart of the matter…) Mona Lisa’s pull is in the ease with which her high impact and mysterious image can be turned into endless reproductions! Yes. She reproduces like it is nobody’s business. \u00a0She sells!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9320\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mona, with her come-hither looks is forever… a siren, beckoning tourists, to the crush… to the HORROR of Invisibility. \u00a0Since we are all NOBODY in comparison with the famed Dame!<\/p>\n

Leonardo d’ Vinci’s Mona Lisa is reproduced in cheap prints on coffee cups, deli napkins, and shopping totes… enough \u201ckitsch<\/a>,\u201d (A wonderful German word, which art historians LOVE, which means… crap art we get a KICK out of like… whoopee cushions of culture…) to populate a cosmos of gaping landfills. \u00a0Clearly, the tightly guarded ORIGINAL work of art was painted by Leonard d’ Vinci, a time traveling genius, who had the political savvy to die in the arms of a French King, (no less!). Moreover, Leonardo may have understood, precisely how to make an immortal image, one which could easily be pressed and passed on, a type of female figurative currency. Yet, she is nothing special, really… She is not even… BIG… she’s not even Marilyn… platinum blond….but she is pure POP, contemporary art, that is for certain. \u00a0Who among us can verify that the painting we think we see is not a poster?<\/strong>\"IMG_3809\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cpainting,\u201d sits behind bullet proof glass and must have a red velvet rope around her. I mean… if she were not the real thing who among the millions that snap a picture in a year could tell? Certainly NOT I! I got no where near enough to see the genius, the otherworldly, Uncanny hand of the master<\/em>! One barely has time to snap a selfie before being pushed out of the way by someone convinced that their need for a selfie is greater than yours.<\/p>\n

\"Frau<\/a>
Frau Kolb among the crowds, visiting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, France. Summer, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I believe that when The Muse of Talkinggrid, Ms. Crane said, \u201cFuck the Mona Lisa!\u201d She was nailed a sentiment I share. Why all the fuss? Mona Lisa\u2019s tripped out, picture perfect, made for selfies image, is as vapid as that of two bit hussy. We refuse to be humiliated! \u00a0We are better than THAT<\/em>! Well… actually<\/em>, we (husband & I) fought the crowds to see her. We pushed. Shoved, each other… Actually, Harmuth never pushes, but is not a person anyone can dismiss. \u00a0Ms. Crane is likely not to have pushed anyone because she is,<\/em>The Muse, after all<\/em> and people really do respect her “Aura.” Frau Kolb is convinced that \u201cthe Aura,\u201d of La Gioconda is one more example of a sheepish desire to fold into the herd, while feeling superior and\u00a0civilized<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3813\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I did not see a single person that looked satisfied by their brush with the inordinate tourist crowds mobbing Mona. After grabbing a snap of her, across the room and over the heads of a gaggle of other anonymous gaping gawkers, every visitor I saw looked cranky, disappointed. One and all, we are NOTHING in the face of Mona Lisa\u2019s FAME, her radiant reputation! \u00a0She rules.<\/p>\n

The actual work of art, as it hangs for “public pleasure,” at the Louvre, the painting is erased by the mass unseeing of the image under a storm of “distracted,” self absorbed, self appointed, “art critics” of mostly ZERO integrity (this, of course, includes me… I too have fallen, stooped, and hustled to see the Lady behind glass… only to encounter what I knew would be a monumental waste of human energy, in search of sacred… something… Which, of course was NOT there. There<\/em> is only a flimsy experience of emptiness, in an overcrowded museum hall, where all the other paintings are made utterly invisible, erased, by the frantic crowds clicking images of themselves and the beast that is desire for recognition, reputation, and singularity; which may be the fuel that gets all the tourists out of bed and ready to face challenging crowd conditions for so little reward, paying for the privilege of being one more ART LOVER! \u00a0Hah!<\/p>\n

We, at Talkinggrid, admit to being vain. \u00a0We want, no less than anyone else wants, our “brands,”to endure; our own five centuries of fame<\/em>. We want to be Marilyn, the American La Gioconda<\/a><\/em>, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, and The Venus de Willendorf<\/a>\u00a0rolled into ONE, mega MOM, a super being, with an ample bosom, ready to feed the entire world. Yet, few are willing to do the exercise, the calisthenics required, of those that seek enduring glory. \u00a0Few are going to die in the embrace of royal patrons, either.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This fortunate young woman is tall enough to get her Mona Lisa Selfie, without losing herself in the throng.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We get out of bed and make our way to the museum early. We are on a mission! \u00a0Armed with a marked up map and specific instructions, thanks to Stephanie at Panoramic tours, we know just where to go, Underground. It is the most direct route. We were going to see HER. Of course, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,31,28,1,27],"tags":[74,76,32,75,70,45,71,73,77,44,72],"class_list":["post-1541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-history","category-france","category-museum-visits","category-spirituality-art-chat","category-travel","tag-adorno","tag-ein-schatz","tag-frau-kolb","tag-kitsch","tag-la-giaconda","tag-the-louvre","tag-the-mona-lisa","tag-theodore-adorno","tag-tourist-crowds","tag-tourists-in-paris","tag-walter-benjamin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/IMG_3822.jpg?fit=2448%2C3264&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1576,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkinggrid.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}