Christopher Wool's retrospective spiraled to the top of the Guggenheim yesterday, as I went to see the much buzzed about exhibit. Alive, youngish, and clearly keen on a limited palette of colors, Christopher Wools work was a mixture of big and small paintings, enamel lettering, and photography, all in the black and white range with the occasional use of yellow or red. I took about 45 minutes to reach to the end of his show, and to the highest peak of the museum, but by the last painting other questions seemed to be peeking out as well. Christopher Wool, on November 12th 2013, sold “Apocalypse Now,”a smaller one of his works with a line from Francis Ford Coppola movie, at Christie's , for a mind-boggling $26,485,000. This piece also happened to be one of the works that I had walked past without stopping. I won't claim to have the most educated art eye, or the extensive knowledge that many art lovers acquire, but to my eye, there was nothing truly captivating about the black and white lettering reading; SELL THE HOUSE SELL THE CAR SELL THE KIDS” I was astonished that I could walk by something that held that much monetary value without even missing a beat. I began thinking about the art world, and artists like Wool, and how having your work displayed in the Guggenheim is what I will call, becoming a “SuperArtist.” Thousands of talented men and woman dedicated their lives to their craft. How many do you think make it to such a prestigious level as to have their work displayed in this upper east side haven of the artistic elite? Probably about just as many out of the thousands of beautiful girls that flood the streets of New York City attempting to realize their dreams of becoming “Supermodels.” But the question for me now becomes, Are the ones that make it to the top, like Wool, in the art and modeling industry alike, really “super” talented ?

As I finished up in the Guggenheim, my mind was frantically piecing together all the ways the art world and the fashion industry collide. Who decides who becomes the next buzzed about artist? Is it just like how this season's breakout catwalk star was decided? A mixture of connections, and an agent that pushes you way more than the other girls for no particular reason. Overall, I enjoyed experiencing Christopher Wool at the Guggenheim, but I am not so sure what separated him from all the other talent out there other than luck. In industries like art and fashion where opinions are subjective, and the talent market is over-saturated, how do we decide? I invite you to think about that, it is something that will be on my mind for a while. xxx

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