In the sculpture garden, outside the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis , in one of the shrubbery 'rooms' there is a large display of hedges interspersed with glass panels of varying opacity. Some of them are nearly mirrors - like the one here on the left. Some like the one in the right photo are nearly transparent. Some of them have other effects. The one in the background in the right photo, which really is through the glass, had an interiour grid that made it almost opaque unless you were moving and then you could see jerky images beyond the glass through cunningly spaced slots. It was a fun piece of work. People reacted to it in varying ways from wondering where the sculpture was in this area to my idea to use it for a bit of fanciful photography. The Walker Gallery its self convinced me that I should just give up on Contemporary Art museums. Those I have visited so far in this art voyage have been a vast disappointment. After a short while wandering around their stark white interiours gazing at the seemingly random weirdness that seems to be avant guard for the last 25 years I start getting snarky, then I forget to be quiet, then I get in trouble with the guards.
Visualize, if you will - You walk into yet another huge white room. The size is about 30 x 30 with 20 ft. ceilings. The walls and ceiling are an unrelieved bright white. The floor is of a white, slightly speckled commercial tile, and the lighting is glaring. On the far wall is a very large pink X - nothing more. In the corners are squares made of gray bungee cords that cast slightly interesting shadows (yawn) and on another wall is a massive white canvas that is covered with dark gray scratchy lines and reddish blotches. In the center of the room sits a blobby 'sculpture' about three feet tall that looks like an over sized child's play-dough creation with a few wires stuck in for fun. The room also contains one excruciatingly bored museum guard. Get. Me. Outta. Here.
So, if you are ever in Minneapolis - the free Sculpture Garden rocks. The adjoining art museum can be skipped.
Cheer! ~M.E.
1 comment:
I have found that modern art's focus seems to be strictly intellectual without any beauty attached. There is some intellectual problem they are trying to investigate, or review, or comment on, without actually have any aesthetic pleasing value.
I rarely go to modern art museums. Give me the classics, please.
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