MoMA
Posts by Jason Persse
January 14, 2011  |  Five for Friday
Five for Friday: This One Goes to 11

“I went to my friend’s house one day, and he had an electric guitar he had just bought with a tiny little amp. I turned the volume up to 10 and I hit one chord, and I said, I’m in love.” – Ace Frehly (Kiss)

“The most important part of my religion is to play guitar.” – Lou Reed

Despite several abortive attempts over the years, I never learned to play the guitar. At every turn I’ve been thwarted by laziness, a lack of dedication, and a set of 10 thumbs. This has made finding work in my chosen vocation—globe-trotting rock megastar—rather difficult.

October 1, 2010  |  Five for Friday
Five for Friday: See You in the Funny Pages

Five for Friday, written by a variety of MoMA staff members, is our attempt to spotlight some of the compelling, charming, and downright curious works in the Museum’s rich collection.

When the first newspaper comic strips appeared in the 1890s, arbiters of “high culture” derided the medium as sub-literate pablum for the masses. Yet despite the (elitist, borderline-xenophobic) hand-wringing of the highfalutin set, comics quickly captured America’s heart—and the imagination of generations of artists.

September 3, 2010  | 
We’re Off to the Beach!
Joel Sternfeld. Little Talbot Beach, Florida. September 1980. Chromogenic color print, printed 1980, 13 9/16 x 16 15/16" (34.5 x 43.1 cm). Gift of Beth Goldberg Nash and Joshua Nash. © 2010 Joel Sternfeld

Joel Sternfeld. Little Talbot Beach, Florida. September 1980. Chromogenic color print, printed 1980, 13 9/16 x 16 15/16\

INSIDE/OUT is bidding summer a fond farewell by taking advantage of the long holiday weekend. We’ll be back, rested and refreshed, on Tuesday, September 7.

From the entire INSIDE/OUT team, have a wonderful holiday!

July 14, 2010  |  Artists, Collection & Exhibitions
From a Whisper to a Scream: Following Yoko Ono’s Instructions
Yoko Ono. Selections from Whisper Piece (four of sixteen total; installation view at The Museum of Modern Art). 2010. Pen on wall, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. Photo: Jason Persse

Yoko Ono. Selections from Whisper Piece (four shown of sixteen total; installation view at The Museum of Modern Art). 2010. Pen on wall, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. Photo: Jason Persse

I first heard about Yoko Ono’s so-called “instruction pieces” as a high school student, when a friend told me the (possibly apocryphal, certainly embellished) story of Ono’s first meeting with John Lennon. History according to the poorly fact-checked lunchtime ramblings of rock ‘n’ roll–obsessed seventeen-year-olds: During a visit to London’s Indica Gallery in 1966, Lennon encountered Ono’s Ceiling Painting. Climbing to the top of a tall, white ladder, he used a magnifying glass dangling from a thread to read a message printed in tiny letters on the ceiling: “YES.” Profoundly moved by the work’s unalloyed positivity, he demanded to meet the artist right away.