MOMA: JEFF WALL. Scoboco recently wrote up the Jeff Wall exhibit at MOMA (a.k.a. "the MoMA").

And now, at long last, I'm finally ready to express my own opinion.

As it turns out, it's very similar to Scoboco's.

The Jeff Wall show (at MOMA through May 14, then on to Chicago and San Francisco) consists of large photographic transparencies mounted on light boxes. At first the images looked utterly banal to me, but as I progressed through the exhibit, I began to notice how at least some of them were meticulously staged--and, often, very witty.

I also noticed how different visitors seemed to favor different images. And old pal cracked up over a set including An Octopus (1990)--

























--but the work that made me laugh the most was an image of a ventriloquist party where no one was laughing.

The work that made the strongest impression on me was something we almost missed because it was in a separate, out-of-the-way room: Dead Troops Talk (a vision after an ambush of a Red Army Patrol, near Moqor, Afghanistan, winter 1986) (1992). It's a grotesque vision of zombie soldiers that reminded me of Homecoming and now makes me think of Journey's End, too. You can take a look at it as part of this online Jeff Wall exhibition.


Image Credit:
Jeff Wall (Canadian, born 1946)
An Octopus, 1990
Silver dye bleach transparency in light box
71 5/8 x 7 ft. 6 3/16 in. (182 x 229 cm)
Private collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Zürich
© 2007 Jeff Wall