Orozco @ the Moma

A few months ago I decided to check out the MOMA in NYC. I was completely convinced it would be the Mecca of all I consider to be amazing art. When I left I was just glad it was Target Free Fridays. Now before everyone goes screaming at me telling me I have no appreciation for modern art I must say that that is simply NOT the case. I understand that art is not necessarily a painting (even though I am partial to think that it is), and maybe I am partial to seeing an artist's hand in the work (think rauschenberg, Hesse, De Kooning). There is something about a stiff suit hanging on a wall that just refuses to grab my attention.
So when I saw that Gabriel Orozco retrospective at the MOMA i got a reaction other than exasperated sigh. The whale, oh the whale. The inscription wrote that when he saw the space he immediately thought of a giant whale skeleton (I mean doesn't everyone?). Any artist can relate to that. It felt like Damien Hirst, but instead of preserving, digging up the remains and then drawing all over it. I feel bad for all these animals who are being dug up and doodled all over to be called "art". I feel like if I saw this around the same time I started looking at Damien Hirst I would have dug it. I mean the scale is incredible and being able to look at a whale skeleton from all these angles at different places in the museum is pretty sweet. The shadows are also great and it's a nice use of space. However all I can take from it is another conceptual modernist with a lot of money to throw around trying to wow us with his "bling" art.

Recently I was looking in Art News and there the whale rears it's head at me again and as I read I see an article on this piece and Orozco says "I want to disappoint the expectations of someone who wants to be amazed" . That hit a chord with me because I feel like that's exactly what he did. I feel like it's amazing in a sense, but I also am completely disappointed at the same time.
I can't decide and this whale has been following me around for two months now. When I hear Orozco talk about though, it almost does make sense. However, rich guys playing with money stopped being cool when Damien Hirst made the skull with diamonds on it and then invested in his own piece of work. This guy sounds like he was a lot cooler in 1993.