Impersonating art: an origin Story
Looking at Art with my mom and my friend Cori in Seattle at SAM. Summer 2013
In the first decade of the 2000’s I had a corporate job as a PR and Events manager for a home decor company. When the economy tanked in 2008 and they laid off 25% of our team, I also briefly took on trade shows, which meant I traveled quite a bit for the two roles I held there. In 2009, I had this whirlwind trip that had doing press meetings NYC for 3 days, then up to Boston for a 3 day trade show, back to NYC for 5 more days and finally onto DC for a day of press meetings. Since I’m originally from CT, I always padded these trips with a few extra days to visit friends and family on the east coast.
On the first round of days in NYC I had lunch with an editor friend at a cute coffee house, and we were trading notes on our dating lives, and recounting how hard it was to meet nice, normal guys. Enter cute, flirty, coffee barista. I encouraged my friend to go talk to him, since they were both living in the same city, and she declined because “she was wearing her glasses” and not feeling very cute. I looked over at the guy (his name was Yuri), and said “he’s wearing glasses, I’m wearing glasses, who cares!? Just got talk to him, or I will!” Well, she called my bluff, and said “go for it!” We chatted a bit and exchanged numbers, agreeing to meet up on the second leg of my NYC trip (between Boston and DC).
These trips were always lots of running around, with late nights and early mornings. I would lug a suitcase of lighting and hardware all over (always taking the subways because my per diem was a joke), cramming 5-8 meeting in a day, plus often tacking on dinner or early breakfast meetings. Basically lots of travel and work and being “on” all day, and not a lot of sleep. By the end of my second round of days in NYC I was exhausted. I had played phone tag with Yuri, an NYU student, and was about to give up on meeting up with him before I flew out to DC, but on my last day in the city we agreed to meet for dinner, which turned into drinks, and ultimately dancing until the wee hours of the morning. I had a fun time, but also had an early morning flight to DC, and three meetings there the following day.
Tiffany and I at the Smithsonian in D.C.
I had also tacked on an extra day to stay with Tiffany, my roommate from college, and explored DC a little. So after I finished my last meeting, I met her at her office and we decided to visit the Smithsonian to look at art. I was quite giddy from lack of sleep and too much caffeine, and I’m not sure exactly how it happened but it started innocently enough with us taking photos together, and quickly became more and more silly until I started posing with the art and trying to impersonate it. First up, a this sculpture from Max Ernst.
And we were off and running with it!
Me and this Max Ernst sculpture circa winter 2009.
Washington, D.C.
We laughed a lot and began looking for other art to try to impersonate throughout the Smithsonian. I even got to show off my art education and discuss what I had learned about several of the artists and their work. At one point a fellow museum goer, asked if I was docent and could I answer some questions for them!
Tiffany and I impersonating “Two Nude Women” by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1906. NYC. Summer 2009
The following summer, I was back in NYC for work again and this time Tiffany took the train up to visit and we headed to MOMA for another round of impersonation. (I realize now, with all the social media that this is apparently a thing lots of people do, but at the time, I thought this was unique to us). My favorite impersonation of this visit was with a large abstract metallic sculpture. It took a few tries to capture its’ essence, and at one point in the process I heard the click of camera shutters, only to look up and realize that other museum goers were also photographing my antics.
MOMA NYC summer 2009
Over the next several years, any trip to any museum with anyone could morph into an impersonating art adventure. The gallery below represents impersonations in NYC, Seattle, Portland, and DC taken between 2009- 2013
And while I took a long break from it, I recently revisited the concept at SF MOMA with my husband. Mostly because my pants matched this piece of art so perfectly. Have you ever done something silly like this at museums? I may need to start doing more of these in the new year!
SFMOMA December 2023