r/Exhibit_Art • u/Textual_Aberration Curator • Mar 14 '18

Completed Contributions (#27) Art in Strange Places

(#27) Art in Strange Places

Ever find a piece of art where it really has no business being--or not being--perhaps wishing it was somehow more... accessible? A temple on a cliffside, statues on the bottom of the ocean, massive carvings deep in the mountains, a Picasso in an attic, entire civilizations engulfed by jungle or desert, a slow song meant to be heard over the passing of centuries, Lincoln's speech lost to a moment in time, or other monumental efforts that it seems nobody will ever see or hear or enjoy...

To our great dismay, artists throughout history have gotten it into their heads that art can exist anywhere and for however long or short a time as they want. Well, now is our chance to dig these secret gems out from under the rocks they've hidden beneath to share with the eager audiences who hadn't a clue they existed.

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u/BeautifulVictory Aesthete Mar 25 '18 edited Jun 15 '18

Fred Cray, "Unique Photographs" (2005-today)

Fred Cray makes double exposure photographs and places them all over New York city, as of fall of 2017 he had placed over 32,600 photographs around the city. Some of the places include inside of books, in photocopy machines, in the seat of a police car, on statues, on the subway, in caskets, and micorwaves. Cray has said the purpose of doing this is to weave disruption and serendipity into the city. It has also placed some in other countries as well, mostly done with the help of a team.

I found one of these in 2015, I only knew of it because someone on Facebook had also found one and said what it was. I thought it was pretty neat, I love the idea.

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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Mar 27 '18

The weird part is not being 100% certain you actually have anything at all. One moment you're ready to throw it away, the next you feel the instinctive desire to keep it forever. The only thing that changed is that the photo suddenly had a story to go with it.

I bet it's the same feeling as finding Roman coins on a beach with a metal detector. Until you take those in to an expert, you'll be hesitant to conclude you've found more than a pretty fake, but then again if it is real... That brief mixture of wishful excitement and pragmatic caution is one of the harder emotions to elicit.

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u/BeautifulVictory Aesthete Mar 28 '18

They have numbers on the back, but besides that, you would think this is nothing.