The Giant, David Altmejd. 2006. All images courtesy of The New Museum.

 “Nature is being reconstituted,” writes Jeffrey Deitch, the newly appointed director of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, in the catalogue for the Skin Fruit show, which opened recently at the New Museum. In his essay, Deitch explores how far away from real nature we as human beings have moved, and the possible consequences of such detachment. According to him, the embrace of plasticity and biotechnological advances are threatening to create a breed of “superhumans”, whose concept of nature is defined by computer game renditions rather than actual experience. He views this development as having broad ramifications for art. As he notes, art in its early days was inspired by nature and, over many centuries, artists have looked to nature “for the revelation of basic truths”, redefining nature through their vision. But for today’s — and tomorrow’s — generation, he writes, “the traditional search for truth has perhaps become obsolete”.
     Unfortunately, such thoughtfulness doesn’t accompany the actual show on view at the New Museum, despite proclaiming to be themed around the representation of the human body. When it was announced a few months ago, Skin Fruit was greeted with much fanfare. The agitation concerned the non-profit institution’s decision to mount a show of the Greek-Cypriot tycoon and art collector Dakis Joannou’s mighty collection of contemporary art, despite the fact that Joannou presides on its board of trustees. Adding salt to fire, the museum chose to hand over the curating baton to one Jeff Koons who just happens to be heavily represented in Joannou’s art stock.