Phantom Attractions at Astor Weeks

Zoe Beloff, Model for Drive-In Dreamland by Albert Grass (c. 1945), 2012, Wood, paint, plexiglass, found objects, 67 × 27 ⁵⁄₁₆ × 19 ³⁄₈ inches, 170 x 70 x 48.5 cm., photo courtesy the artist and Astor Weeks

When my mother was very old, I wanted to tell her what it was like to be in the art world. I said, “It is a little like joining the carnival.” While not affording her much comfort, I tried to convey the disorderly balancing act of the ridiculous and the transcendent, the illusory and the real, the sincere and the piratical. I wanted to suggest a midway of precarious lives, thrill rides, and a dubious game of chance.

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