I hate to be dismissive, but I don't know what else to say: today's Op-Art is just lame. As a lighthearted graphic take on contemporary culture, it fails by making the obvious joke about Christo that's been done over and over, with no significant variation, since, I dunno, probably the wrapping of the Reichstag. The piece is hardly more successful as illustration: it's just blobs representing fabric-covered objects done in that muddy, ink-wash style so they look like, well, blobs. In short, this is the kind of workmanlike, phoned-in effort that rightly accrues to any art director who says, "Hey, that big, expensive Central Park Christo project that no one in the city can freakin' shut up about is finally opening today! Why don't you do a gag about Christo?" Not that I know for a fact that this is what happened. Maybe James Stevenson was just dying for a chance to draw little gray lumps. Oh, OK, fine, his idea for the Christo-wrapped I-95 is a little bit funny, if only because it looks like something Christo would actually do, as opposed to "Starbucks" and "Reality TV," which aren't even funny as one-word punchlines anymore, let alone art. But I swear, if when the inevitable Wal-Mart opens here, they bring Stevenson back to do an Op-Art called "More Opportunities for Wal-Mart"... well, he and his art director will feel the sting of my wrath. Update: I wouldn't have guessed it but it turns out it is possible to create a funny graphical commentary on The Gates.
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