On Wednesday my wife and I were invited to the MoMA member reception “The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World”, which opens officially tomorrow for the general public.

Obviously the rain did not prevent hordes of socialites to flock to MoMA and gather around one of the three open bars. But that was great because it gave us, and quite a few other “they must be on a How About We date” couples to visit some of the galleries without having to use our elbows.

We both enjoyed “Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949”, and saw “Nicholas Nixon: Forty Years of The Brown Sisters” on the way out. But definitely the star of the show was “The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World”.

I need a long blog post to comment on that exhibition. It definitely caused some very mixed feelings, from the “tongue-in-cheek, I get it” to the “this is amazing” to, more often than not, “you gotta be kidding me!”.

I understand the challenge curators of contemporary art face when trying to put together a historically relevant contemporary exhibition. It reminds me of entrepreneurs being asked to come up with expected revenue figures in a round A roadshow (or worse, in a seed investment elevator pitch). I admire their bravery. I admire the creative ways with which they try to convince others that they know what they are doing (I can`t decide if quoting William Gibson was a way to lure millennials in, a touch of genius, or a lame attempt… so I guess it might be a bit of all). But I really missed the IMHO disclaimer that should go with those bold and often over-the-top statements.

One thing I would most definitely have liked, as always when visiting an art exhibit, is a chance to discuss the art with the artist. Because in this case I think it would have been a riot. Whether I mean that in a good or bad way, I don`t even know.

All in all, a worthwhile experience. As always.