I wonder if instead of telling people not to touch, we could tell people why not to touch and, in the case of Neto, what we could learn if we did. Explaining contemporary art does not take away one’s personal and unique experience or interpretation of it. Even a seasoned veteran such as myself who has the habit of looking up, down, and all around an exhibition space, looking for any incongruities or circumspect objects, found, for example, the Richard Wright exhibit in the space next to Neto’s difficult at best. Part of it was placement, part of it was lighting, and part of it is that art shouldn’t look better in a catalog than on the wall.
Reading and appreciation of art can only occur when the viewer has the full effect of what is being presented and if that presentation works. Yes, art still needs a helping hand or at least some insightful planning. In the case of Neto’s installation, air conditioning and climate-controlled spaces, while good for the comfort of both the viewer and the art, shouldn’t have played a role.
Smell obviously plays an important part of the immersion process in Neto’s work when he is using tumeric, clove, cumin, ginger, and pepper to fill his hanging pods. Keeping with his fascination of skin, (Neto) “in his commission for MCASD, the scent of the spices conjures visceral connotations. Exotic and enveloping, the discovery of new scents as one navigates through the veils of fabric, is akin to the intoxicating experience of smelling perfume on the surface of warm skin.” The key word is “warm,” not cool and filtered.
Smell is a powerful memory trigger and an essential component in any amorous relationship. Perfume, like spices, gets you salivating. Erotic, sensual, dirty, and sweaty (not the “I just ran the Boston marathon” sort of sweatiness), all the crevasses of the skin and all orifices of the body become major stimulants as well as the cement that bonds any physical and emotional contact between lovers or gourmands. I may not have the best sense of smell, but I had to be right up on Neto’s sculpture to get any whiff at all generated by an air current or two created in my passing.
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