clutter v. organized clutter.

Ron Vawter American, 1948–1994
Roy Cohn/Jack Smith stage set 1992


This is a piece out of the set from Ron Vawters famous pieces Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, a piece with deals a lot with a homophobic man and a closeted homosexual and their interaction with eachother.


Roy Cohn’s Jack Smith Staged Set created in 1992 is essentially a bunch of objects placed onto a set that seem to go together. You can clearly see a theme with what is placed there but I wouldn't necessarily call this art until i did some research. 

Jack Smith is a film director born in 1932 and died in 1989, he was said to be the founding father of performance art and Roy Cohn is a set designer.  There was once a movie constructed about both of them. 

1. What do you see?

I see a lot of objects that look as though they were from the set of Aladdin or a movie that is set in the middle east. There is a lot of blue, purple, and gold accents. There is a large chaise lounge that seems to be the focal point. It looks as though it could be the set for a bed room. Perhaps a teenage bedroom because it is cluttered and messy. 

2.What does this remind you of?

It reminds me a lot of Aladdin! The colors are reminiscent of Jasmine to me, this is what i think her room would look like for a Broadway production. Minus the clutter.

3.What feelings, if any, does it raise?

It makes me feel like I am young, not only because it reminds me the most of a Disney movie but because my mother and grandmother used to take me to the theater a lot and I really feel like this would be part of the Aladdin production, if there were such a thing, I am not sure. 

4.What questions does it raise? What can you synthesize from this as far as what the content is? 

I think that since we are arguing is this art this would be a good place to talk about that, I do not necessarily see it as art in the sense it is meant to be at the Walker Art Center. I am a big advocate of interior design, stage design, room design, etc., but this piece could go both ways.  Its really just a bunch of objects set into an area that is supposed to tell a story, i think that the story is too vague to describe what you really what to take from it. WIthout knowing anything about the piece you would never know what it means, the background information really gives you a new idea to what the piece means.