Sandro Rodorigo in ‘Artists Guarding Artists’ at Family Business

Sandro Rodorigo, Sandro at Work:  The Great Self-Portrait, oil on masonite, 2009.
Sandro Rodorigo, Sandro at Work: The Great Self-Portrait, oil on masonite, 2009.

Over years of avid art viewing, particular museum security guards have become as familiar to me as the art they guard though we’ve never exchanged words.  ‘Artists Guarding Artists’ a group show at Family Business breaks the silence with work by artists who work as guards at the city’s major museums, from the Met to the New Museum.  Next time I go to the Guggenheim, I’ll be looking for Sandro Rodorigo to congratulate him on his tongue-in-cheek, self-aggrandizing ‘Sandro at Work: The Great Self-Portrait.’  Though it’s a small painting, it perfectly pillories art world hierarchies of importance that don’t favor guards.  (Through August 17th).