Michael Jackson 'Golden' Tribute Glove 2019

Curator: First impression? It's…intense. Almost viscerally glittering. Editor: Exactly! It provokes this gut reaction. And here we have, in the collection, the "Michael Jackson 'Golden' Tribute Glove," from 2019. A mixed-media piece created by the artist Jack Armstrong. The artist takes the iconic MJ glove, and… reimagines it. Curator: Reimagines is putting it mildly! It’s as though the glove has been dipped in molten gold, allowed to partially burn away to reveal this…inner fire? The orange peeking through, those polka dots. Editor: It definitely explodes some of the classic symbolism, turning it up to eleven. Gloves have been emblems of power and status for centuries. Yet here, you get both the glitz of fame, yes, but almost a cautionary heat. An unstable element. Curator: A reaction in process… it reminds me of, not just fame, but the relentless performance required. I imagine how heavy it is to wear – this monument to expectations, constantly on display, like wearing liquid fire…or chains! You could ask "Is the man being worn by the glove, rather than the other way round"? Editor: And isn't that always the dance with icons? To carry the symbolic weight. You know, look at old paintings of monarchs – they aren't people anymore. Curator: Precisely. It makes me consider mortality, the tension between ephemeral fame and something...transcendent that outlasts us. Do you know that story about an African King who returned to England many years later and, surrounded by statues and history, said he'd thought his footprint would remain longer? So is Armstrong showing that yearning here – creating a monument that captures a sort of truth and that defies simple decay? Editor: Interesting. I lean into your theory, maybe, I would describe it more of a contemporary symbol wrestling with history, rather than just being shackled by it. A symbol aware of itself in the modern era...a complex memento mori about performance, identity, and memory... It sure burns brightly. Curator: And now I can’t get out of my head that “Golden” is what people named their iPhones at the height of Michael's troubles… so many interpretations jostle inside this…exuberant object.