I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 2, 2015] Myopia.

I grew up with Devo in the background.  But I honestly never really gave them a lot of thought.  The biggest surprise for me was back in the late 80s when in a radio interview Geddy Lee said that he liked Devo quite a lot (the caller said that he saw him wearing an “Oh No It’s Devo” pin).  I have a couple albums, and I knew all about “de-evolution” but it kind of ended there.  I also knew that Mark Mothersbaugh had become the defacto composer for all the great contemporary films.  But I had no idea the extent of his creativity.

When we were visiting relatives in Denver, Sarah’s brother took us to MCA Denver for Mothersbaugh’s show Myopia.  I could have looked at the exhibits for hours (although the kids weren’t that exited by the whole thing).  The entire museum was devoted to Mothersbaugh.  There was a live video in the basement.  And as you progressed up the levels, the chronology of Mothersbaugh’s vision unfolded.

The first section had early artwork, drawings and videos (from when proto-Devo was a more punk outfit, playing on anything-but-instruments).  As you walked through the rooms, you progressed through the designs and visions that Mothersbaugh had, from Booji Man, to the New Traditionalists’ black wig through to the red power dome.  I didn’t feel comfortable taking photos in the gallery, but how could I pass up taking one of this exhibit:

The next room had some clips of his soundtracks (a video of the opening of Pee Wee’s Playhouse).

And as you moved up another flight of stairs, there were lots of little record players that you could start.  Each one had a vinyl pressing of a different soundtrack song from The Life Aquatic to The Lego Movie (Clark refused to believe that it was from the movie).  And then in one room were three gigantic contraptions–fully mechanized music machines playing pipe organs and other sound effects.  It was very cool.

One of the things that Mothersbaugh has been doing is playing with mirror images.  He has dozens of pictures like this one .  Most of them are old photos, which I assume he has purchased and then manipulated rather than taking new photos and making them appear old.  Most of them are really creepy although some of them just look odd without you revealing why until you get up close.

As part of this exhibit he also had this Scion specially made in this mirror design.  I loved it.

As you moved further along, there were some garden gnomes and a whole room full of over 30,000 postcards that Mothersbaugh has been drawing on for decades–sometimes five or six a day.  They were all in binders that you could flip through.

The symbols of the show were the sculptures that you saw when you walked in (see below).  They were neat.  And there was an essay by Wes Anderson stating that he would love to make a theme park inspired by Mothersbaugh’s work.  That would be pretty insane.

There is a book that accompanies the exhibit.  I’d like to read it and to delve a little deeper into what Mothersbaugh is all about.  I only wish I’d been a Spud Head from the early days.