Waters at the Walker

I have always wanted to visit the Walker Art Center and, as luck would have it, our first night in Minneapolis also turned out to be a “free Thursday”. It wasn’t until after we had decided to go, however, that I discovered that John Waters’ “Absentee Landlord” was showing at the Centre.

In a word: Squee!!



I am a huge fan of Waters' films, so getting a chance to see a show that he curated was a huge treat. I had big expectations, and the show exceeded every one. There was everything from pop-art to video art to full-room installations to Waters’ own motion-activated squirting-flower picture (Hardy-Har, 2006). It was fascinating, funny, irreverent and surprising. Just like John Waters himself.



We stayed at Walker for about 2 hours which was *just* enough time to see pretty much everything. If we had more time, though, I would’ve lingered longer at the amazing Baby Marx exhibit and wandered through the entire sculpture garden (home of the "Spoonbridge", above). As it was, I had to limit my time gazing at the Mark Rothko painting and was forced to make some very quick decisions in the gift shop (which explains how I ended up with a bag of "John Waters approved" plastic cockroaches). Oh, well…I suppose that gives us all the more reason to return.