While guests kicked back between the thronging beats of the second floor and the seventh floor (someone said Paul Sevigny was DJing – but all I could spot was a tall gangly blonde vixen hurling fierce electro beats), I actually got a chance to speak to one of the artist’s work which was hanging on the 7th floor: a Japanese expatriate by the name of Kenzo Minami. Asked how he managed to get his work at the museum he had no idea but was sanguine to say he was deeply appreciative of the fact that it was there.
To paraphrase the mission of the museum, the tipsheet in my possession posited the following:
First, to bring a new generation of artists and designers into the fold, opening MAD to an audience that may not yet be familiar with the institution; Second, and most importantly, to support hands-on arts education to New York City students MAD provides in its own classrooms. For many public school students, the art classes that they take at MAD are the only studio art education they will receive during their formative years, since most public schools have cut arts education from their curricula. The goal for The Rare Earths FLUORESCENTBALL is to raise $250,000 in support of the MAD’s classes for students.
