Matrix 193
Work by Talia Chetrit
Wadsworth Atheneum
Hartford
Through Jan. 7, 2024
When I entered the gallery to view Talia Chetrit’s first museum exhibit in the United States, I was totally unprepared for what I saw: A fully naked man.
The most shocking part of the picture wasn’t the man’s flaccid penis at eye level, displayed prominently in the center of the gallery. It was that the man’s son was in the picture as well, mere inches away from his father’s genitals and playing with part of the belt buckle garment he was wearing.
I immediately felt angry. I get the impulse to push boundaries as an artist, and the creative and financial incentives behind generating controversy. But one thing that angers me is exploitation. I don’t mean in the sexual sense: There was no indication that the child in the painting was abused in any way. And I know that the Wadsworth wouldn’t knowingly display art created in a dangerous, exploitive way.
Yet this was a work of art that was purposefully designed to generate discomfort and outrage. It was the largest picture in the exhibit, and one of the few in color. It was arranged as the only picture you could see from the hallway. There were decisions made at all levels to get a reaction.
I felt that I was the one being exploited. I was being farmed for reactions by both the artist and the Atheneum. That’s not something I agreed to when I paid my entrance fee.
There are many important, interesting and controversial things to say about depictions of nudity and its relationship to gender roles, family and our perceptions. Those conversations, and art depicting them, are inherently uncomfortable because of all the baggage those subjects carry. I don’t enjoy the feeling of being watched, though, and that’s what this picture in particular felt like. It was waiting for me to react to it.
There were other examples of nudity in the exhibit, so it’s not as if this picture was out of place. Those images didn’t give me the feeling that I was the subject. They were just pictures: interestingly composed, still provocative, but aimed at me in a way where I could talk about what I was seeing.
What is there to say about Buckle that doesn’t feel trite and reactionary? Perhaps that’s what made me angriest of all. For the past few months, my job has been to talk about art and how it makes me feel. I didn’t feel anything when I looked at the picture, though. I reacted. Then I reacted to that reaction. There was no feeling in any of those reactions though, just a guttural response to something clearly designed and marketed for that.
Buckle consumed all of the air in the room. I watched the other people I was with try to pay attention to the rest of the curator talk and the rest of the art. But all the eyes eventually went back there, and no one had a single original thought worth saying about what they saw. It was the same old conversation about sex and shame that we’ve had before.
That’s a shame, because I think the rest of the exhibit was good. I just couldn’t pay attention to it.
NEXT
Talia Chetrit: Matrix 193 continues through Jan. 7.
I’m going on vacation, so I’ll see you in the new year!
