[Leica] Sensation

[Jay Coleman <jcoleman@interport.net>]

Luggers:

On Thursday night I attended an opening party for the Sensation
exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  It is the one that Mayor
Giuliani has spoken out against and which has caused him to try to pull
funding for the museum and evict it from its building (which it has been
in for 107 years).  The party took place at the museum and included a
chance to see the exhibition.  Figuring this was a photo op not to be
missed, I took my M6 and 50 Summicron and SF-20 flash (sorry Ted).  I
had Kodachrome 200 in the camera.  Surprisingly, I was able to
photograph at will, even in the exhibition where photography is
ordinarily forbidden.  I used the flash a lot with a slow shutter speed
to allow ambient light as well.  Sometimes I did not use the flash.  I
am waiting for the photos which should be ready on Tuesday.  I hope they
turn out.

The exhibition has some offensive artwork in it.  The work that has
caused the most uproar here, the Madonna with elephant dung, is really
not that offensive (to me).  And I don't think the artist intended it to
be offensive.  Some of the other works -- shark in formaldehyde, sliced
cow, etc. are of questionable artistic merit in my opinion, but kind of
interesting.  Some of the other work is really mild.

In fact, the crowd was more interesting than the art.  Very
interesting.  People dressed in very unusual clothes, very attractive
people, celebrities (Hugh Grant, Stephanie Seymour -- I refrained from
photographing them).

Waiting for the results,

Jay Coleman