Pérez Art Museum Miami

River by Maren Hassinger is a mixed-media installation from 1972/2011. It is made of steel chains and rope. It measures seven inches by seven feet wide and twenty-nine feet long.

The piece is laid out on the floor and is composed of interweaving rope and chain. The rope is brown and the chain is a slightly metallic dark gray. The rope appears to be made of hemp or some other fibrous material while the chain is made of metal. The interlocked materials zig and zag across the floor in a way that resembles a snake or a river. On either end of the object, a small pile of leftover rope is coiled up giving the semblance of a snake’s head.

The next phase of this exhibition is called Goodbye To All That: New York, 1956-63 and covers Didion’s move to New York after graduating from college and getting a job at Vogue magazine. It was in New York that Didion found her voice and the pieces in the exhibition aim to set the stage for surroundings and feelings Didion would have found herself amongst.

Monotone (Moonlight Scene after Samuel Palmer) depicts a gray landscape that is abstracted and low in detail. Used to the golden light of California, Didion sought to find the light and water she had grown up with. New York’s gray landscape and often gray skies would have been no doubt jarring to the young writer who would go on to write her first book Run, River which didion later called a work of false nostalgia, the construction of an idyllic myth of rural Californian life that was written by a homesick girl. It depicts ancestors of pioneers being betrayed and murdered.

Monotone (Moonlit Scene after Samuel Palmer) by Silke Otto-Knapp is a painting from 2016. It is made of watercolor on canvas and measures roughly six feet by ten feet. It is hung in landscape orientation, meaning its longest side runs parallel to the ground.

The piece is made of two large panels of canvas that are presented side by side to create one singular composition. It appears to depict an abstracted horizon.

Like its name suggests, the piece is monochromatic, meaning it features only shades of the same color, gray. Blocks of lighter gray fill the bottom of the canvas in organic shapes that resemble clouds or cliffs. In the middle, the composition is mostly dark gray with lighter gray sections appearing throughout as if looking at small islands surrounded by ocean. Above them, more consistent blocks of light gray appear in irregular shapes that resemble clouds.

In 1964, Didion and her husband moved to Los Angeles to write for television. They would be in California for the next twenty years and would arrive at the beginning of the social changes of the mid 60s. During this time Didion would write many of her lauded works including The White Album, a collection of essays that was published in 1979 that focused on history and politics in California in the late 60s and early 70s.

The piece Diamond Life by Jack Pierson serves as a representation of a piece of what a home could have looked like in the 60s and 70s. Its bright colors and collection of music and books hint to a time rich in expression and optimism. However its separation from its environment and worn out appearance remind us of the tolls of war and internal conflict in the US that would eventually wear out the optimism of the mid 60s.

Diamond Life by Jack Pierson is a sculpture from 1990. It is made of table, chair, record player, record albums, books, ashtray, coffee cup, miscellaneous, linoleum flooring, and a painted wall. It measures eight feet by five feet by four feet.

The piece depicts still life of the interior of a typical American home in the mid 1960s.

The piece is anchored by a large bright-yellow wall that is rectangular in shape. Toward the top left and center of the wall there is what appears to be a dried tree branch and a postcard depicting a beachside strip. Underneath these objects hung to the wall, there is a white table with a light gray granite countertop resembling one found in kitchens. To the viewer’s right there is a small chair made of chrome tubing and brown cloth. To the viewers right and at the foot of the table there is a collection of vinyl records with one record outside of its sleeve. On top of the table and its shelves there are various items placed throughout: a record player, books, a cup, a coffee mug, a candle, an ashtray, cans, and other objects. At the bottom of the piece and underneath the table and chair there is linoleum flooring that is a grayish-cream color.

After twenty years in California and visiting the world, Didion and her family would move back to New York in 1988 where she would stay until her death in 2021. In that time period she would write a piece about the Central Park Five, being the first mainstream media article to suggest that they had been wrongfully convicted.

Jogger in the Park by Dominique Nabokov is in this exhibition as a reference to this article and this event in history.

In 1989, Trisha Meili, who is a white woman, was jogging in central park at night when she was savagely assaulted. Upon being discovered, the police raced to find suspects and 30 minutes after being dispatched they took several teenage boys into custody. After analyzing DNA samples, it was found that none of the boy’s DNA matched the samples but the police determined the results “inconclusive”. The boys were pressured into confessing for the crime but would later retract their confession. More than a decade later, Matias Reyes confessed to the crime as the only actor and DNA evidence confirmed his confession. In 2002 the convictions against the 5 boys were vacated and they later sued the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress.

Jogger in the Park by Dominique Nabokov is a photograph from 1990. It is printed as a wallpaper and its dimensions are variable. It is hung in landscape orientation, meaning its longest side runs parallel to the ground.

The photograph depicts a person running in a park.

The image is in black and white and a majority of the composition is made of pure black. As we glance from above, on the left hand side part of a street is visible with a single white car that is cut off by the frame. The street curves to the right and toward the center of the image. The street is illuminated by light posts that appear as thin black lines with bright white dots. In the center of the curving street that is enveloped by blackness that appears to be trees and foliage, there is a singular figure that appears small in the frame. They are wearing a white shirt and black trousers. They are mid-stride and appear to be running toward the right-hand side of the image which is completely black.

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Joan Didion: What She Means

Exhibition

Joan Didion: What She Means is an exhibition as portrait, an examination of the life of the great American artist Joan Didion by curator Hilton Als, critically acclaimed writer and New Yorker contributor.

July 13, 2023 – January 7, 2024