Good Art #17. The Beanery.

Good Art is in the Stedelijk Museum again this week, this time with Ed Kleinholz's astounding — I'd say awesome if it weren't such an overused word — The Beanery. Somehow I've missed Ed's work all these years, so it was curiosity alone that had me standing in a queue single file to experience the eery interior of The Beanery. A wait has never been worth so much. Surreal and prescient, Ed's 1930s bar provides a haunting experience, oddly enchanting, yet equally depressing. Standing inside I felt constricted; I sensed what it must feel like to be claustrophobic. Everything felt tight, every step carefully placed so as to not bump into the clock-faced people, in a bar where time stood still. The experience was enhanced by the fact that only one person could enter at a time. I left gasping for breath, excited by the prospect of a return visit.