Kara Walker on a Budget

Last Friday I went to go see the Kara Walker exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Admittedly, I did not go during the pay-what-you-wish hours, but I was leaving just when they kicked in. I was shocked. No, not by the art, but by the pay-as-you-wish line. There was a queue to the sidewalk, but no wrap around the block and south to Georgia type of line. Winter, it seems, despite the deluge of foreign tourists happily spending their cheap-o dollars in the city, is the time to see museums for "free".

Okay, I know museums support themselves on their knees. So if you can afford to pay, then pay. But this is my wayward way of thinking- I've worked in the art world and I know that they're flush. It is so effing flush, like hedge fund king and close relative of a Queen kind of flush. The private art world sets the market value of art, the private art world should financially fund the open-to-the-public museums. Annual balls for beggars does not count. Nevermind the fact that I'm not (check out my blog's title) flush. I'm no starving artist, but I struggle and hustle as much as the next. And I feel that as a cultural contributer, no matter how under the radar one might be, then I get to have the artist discount. New Yorkers also get the New Yorker discount. Because we pay three taxes. End of wayward thought.

I have never been to MoMA's "free" night, but I've been warned off numerous times. And the MoMA is the zoo york of all the museums. Moreso than the Met, which always gets my quarter. But if you pick a day that's cold and dreary, my bet is that you're in for a treat. You can check out a list of of pay-as-you-wish times at NYC's museums here.

I'm not going to write a Kara Walker review, you can read Holland Cotter's in the first link of this post if you need one, all I can tell you is to just GO. Pick up the free headset on the first floor, maybe read up a little on Walker beforehand. And yes, with the Whitney's normal $15 entrance fee, go on a Friday evening from 6pm-9pm and get in with your pocket change.

photo by lotu5 via flickr