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We Asked 32 Children to Fill in the Most Obtuse Art-Historical Coloring Book We Could Find. Here Are the Delightful Results

by admin
Apr 28, 2020
artnet

With parents and kids alike stuck at home, museums have been
quick to offer families myriad resources for distraction. Among the
quirkiest is a specially designed coloring book courtesy of the
conceptual photographer Louise Lawler, made available by the Museum of Modern
Art in New York last month.

Lawler is known to art fans for photos that document the
everyday reality of how art is shown and displayed in the spaces of
the people who live with it. She’s also been known to remix her own
art, constantly thinking about what images mean in new contexts.
For her 2017 MoMA retrospective, she worked with kids book
illustrator Jon Buller to make versions of her best-known
photos distilled into line drawings that were then blown up on the
walls.

The new MoMA coloring book remixes 12 of these black-and-white
images once more, turning them into an actual activity “for
children and adults of all ages.” (MoMA is looking out for
submissions online with the hashtag #DrawingWithMoMA.)

Here, for instance, is the coloring book version of Lawler’s
seminal 1984 photo showing a Jackson Pollock painting displayed
behind a soup dish, a juxtaposition which has been
called “simultaneously trenchant and poignant”:

Coloring book version of Louise Lawler's <em>Pollock and Tureen, Arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine, Connecticut</em> (1984).

Coloring book version of Louise Lawler’s
Pollock and Tureen, Arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine,
Connecticut (1984).

And here is the coloring book version of Still Life
(Candle) (2003), which shows a small On Kawara date
painting, hovering over a table set with wine glasses and an
ashtray full of cigarette butts.

Coloring book version of Louise Lawler's <em>Still Life (Candle)</em> (2003).

Coloring book version of Louise Lawler’s
Still Life (Candle) (2003).

And here is the colorable version of a 1999 Lawler showing a
polished Jeff Koons bunny displayed in front of a painting by
fellow Neo-Geo artist Peter Halley, an image that once
made the cover of
Artforum.

Coloring book version of Louise Lawler's <em>(Bunny) Sculpture and Painting</em> (1999).

Coloring book version of Louise Lawler’s
(Bunny) Sculpture and Painting (1999).

We decided to take these three Lawlers for a spin. Our office
mates and friends tapped their stable of emerging artists to
provide unique interpretations of what is perhaps the most
high-concept, art historically informed coloring book ever
produced. Submissions arrived in a variety of media, from colored
pencil to markers to computer coloring programs to, in one case (we
speak of Rex), an innovative deployment of collage to comment on
the collision of street art and post-conceptualism in SoHo’s heady
1980s.

The results really make you think about all the themes in
Lawler’s art: how artists make decisions and how we confer value
onto images. Enjoy!

Ava, 2

Ava, 2, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

James, 2

James, age 2, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Ellie, 3

Ariana, age 3, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Ida, 3

Ida, 3, colors in a page of Louise Lawler's MoMA coloring book.

Sienna, 3

Sienna, 3, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

 

Rex, 4

Rex, 4, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Reyan, 4

Reyan, 4, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Ruby, 4

Ruby, age 4, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Allie, 5

Allie, age 5, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Ariana, 5

Ariana, age 5, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Broden, 5

 

Broden Dowling, 5, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.


Finn, 5

Finn, 5, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Anais, 6

Anais, age 6, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Caiden, 6

Orla, 5, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Elena, 6

Elena, 6, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

 

John, 6

John, 6, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Logan, 6

Logan, 6, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Orla, 6

Orla, 6, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Ariana, 7

Ariana, 7, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Eloise, 8

Eloise, age 8, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Miles, 8

Miles, 8, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Olivia, 8

Olivia, 8, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

William, 8

John, 8, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Charlie, 9

Charlie, 9, does a page from MoMA Louise Lawler coloring book.

Skylar, 9

Skylar, 9, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Amelia, 10

Amelia, 10, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Hailey, 10

Hailey does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Paula, 10

Paula, 10, does a page from Lousie Lawler's MoMA coloring book.

Erin, 11

Erin, 11, does a page from MoMA Louise Lawler coloring book.

Jack, 11

Jack, 11, does a page of the Museum of Modern Art's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Scarlett, 11

Scarlett, 11, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

Mary, 15

Mary, 15, does a page from MoMA's Louise Lawler coloring book.

The post We Asked 32 Children to Fill in the Most Obtuse
Art-Historical Coloring Book We Could Find. Here Are the Delightful
Results appeared first on artnet News.

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We Asked 32 Children to Fill in the Most Highbrow Contemporary-Art Coloring Book Imaginable. Here Are the Delightful Results

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