Surrealism, “Project for a New American Century” at Rose

From my review of “Invisible Rays: The Surrealist Legacy” and “Project for a New American Century” at Brandeis’s Rose Art Museum:

The installation of “Invisible Rays: The Surrealist Legacy” [see above] is inspired by Marcel Duchamp's designs for a 1938 Paris Surrealist exhibit where visitors were given flashlights to view paintings in a dim gallery with 1200 coal sacks hung from the ceiling (and coal dust falling on everyone's heads). For a 1942 New York Surrealist show, Duchamp spiderwebbed the gallery with a mile of string. Rose Director Michael Rush hangs everything in a gallery dimly lit by descending bare light bulbs, provides visitors flashlights, and scatters red leaves over the floor. The gimmick makes some work hard to see, but it's amusing and feels right on.

Read the rest here.

“Invisible Rays: The Surrealist Legacy,” “Project for a New American Century,” Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, Sept. 26 to Dec. 14, 2008.

Pictured from top to bottom: The opening of “Invisible Rays: The Surrealist Legacy”; Gregory Crewdson, “Untitled,” 2001, courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York; Matta, “Untitled,” 1956, © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris; Fred Tomaselli, “Web for Eyes,” 2002, copyright the artist, courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York; Dominic McGill, "Project for a New American Century" (detail) 2004, courtesy of the artist and Derek Eller Gallery, photography by Oren Slor.