Sex, Drugs and Art: Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967

August 19, 2008 3:41 PM
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[Article Written by Michael Maryanoff]

Art and rock and roll go hand in hand. Both the guitar and the paintbrush contain immense emotional potential and over time, rockstars and artists have both been driving cultural forces. Sympathy for the Devil at MOCA highlights the intersection between art and music. Some of the links are direct, such as Pedro Bell’s psychedelic album cover for The Electric Spanking of War Babies and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Untitled 1996 (Rehearsal Studio No. 6 Silent Version) which is a fully functioning recording studio (just call MOCA to schedule a session) and sometimes the link is a bit more tenuous such as Jim Drains Sergio, whose bold colors stand out as much as a psychedelic, guitar-smashing Jimi Hendrix concert, yet has no direct link to rock music (other than Drain’s desire to offer his visual interpretation of experimental music).

Some of the collection’s pieces lend a contemplative air to rock and roll’s somewhat obtrusive nature. Take for instance Douglas Gordon’s Bootleg (Cramped) which takes a bootleg video recording of a Cramps concert and puts it in super slow motion, tearing down the engrossment and involvement one could feel at such an event and bares it’s odd nature (in this particular clip of film, the lead singer is leaning over the stage and screaming into the microphone, wearing only tight leather pants).

Some of the art displays the impact of a band’s music through a visual, as opposed to aural, medium. Listening to The Velvet Underground, the audience becomes fully aware of their raw and edgy sound. But in Velvet Underground Perfect World, artist Jason Rhoades elaborates upon The Velvet Underground’s sound by using the visual realm. In order to illustrate the brazenness of The Velvet Underground’s sound and moniker (which is slang for vagina), Rhoades creates an installation as bold as the band. He uses neon signs to spell out all the different words for the most delicate part of a female’s anatomy. While it may induce a few giggles, its bright colors have a bold impact that can only be achieved by bright neon tubing.

One piece is even a commentary on how art can have direct involvement in the process of making rock. Mike Tajima and the art collective New Humans collaborate to create their interpretations of partitions that were used to separate band members in The Rolling Stones’ studio while they recorded the song Sympathy For The Devil. Above the installation is a stereo setup playing a looped recording of the song’s hook (don’t expect it to interfere with your gallery browsing, seeing as how it is played at such a slow speed that it is reduced to little more than unrecognizable crackles).

While traversing South Florida, it's easy to drive past the NW 125th Street exit, but next time you are in the area, it is worth pulling off and popping in to MOCA. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Miami is such a cultural hotbed, a title defended by such exhibits as these. The bright colors and neon lights of Ocean Drive don’t serve as the best backdrop for the drab colors of a medieval art exhibit, but an exhibit like this fits in well.