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Pseudo Places
Apr. 11th, 2004 12:27 am"A picture is a secret of a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." - Diane Arbus
On the fabulous recommendation of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
djmrswhite, we all went to the Diane Arbus exhibit at LACMA today.
Her haunting, matter of fact photos are only matched by her train-of-thought, almost manic writings about her subjects. I was especially enamored of her particular gravitation towards false realities -- carnivals, movie sets, strippers, dark rides, contests and pageants -- and in her photos, the fantasy is stripped of its appeal and made human and more real, which in a strange way makes it even more appealing.
My favorite quote was something she wrote in her journal about visiting Disneyland in the early 1960s:
"Wonderful pseudo places, ruins of cambodian temples which never existed, false deserts littered with bones of animals who never died, like a shrine for unbelievers. And black swans swim in the moat of a castle which looks like the advertisment for a dream."
On the fabulous recommendation of
djmrswhite, we all went to the Diane Arbus exhibit at LACMA today.Her haunting, matter of fact photos are only matched by her train-of-thought, almost manic writings about her subjects. I was especially enamored of her particular gravitation towards false realities -- carnivals, movie sets, strippers, dark rides, contests and pageants -- and in her photos, the fantasy is stripped of its appeal and made human and more real, which in a strange way makes it even more appealing.
My favorite quote was something she wrote in her journal about visiting Disneyland in the early 1960s:
"Wonderful pseudo places, ruins of cambodian temples which never existed, false deserts littered with bones of animals who never died, like a shrine for unbelievers. And black swans swim in the moat of a castle which looks like the advertisment for a dream."
