Here are some thoughts from my trip to the Museum of Modern Art. Its was lovely time. I spent hours there and could spend many more hours there. Though modern and contemporary art and I have not always been on the same terms I’m learning to understand and appreciate some of the things that artists have done. And some work, though I don’t always understand the concept or the execution of the idea, is intriguing and thought provoking. These works are only a few of the many I saw and I’m going to go into deeper detail with certain artists that I was able to see in the near future. One of the first things I saw at MoMA was the Gilbert & George To Be With Art Is All We Ask piece. I have learned about their work and seen some of their performances, and I’ve never really been intrigued by their work. They’re a pair of artists that were modern, performing artists who used themselves as props for their “Happenings”. But their piece here has a poem-type writing and I thought the text was interesting and got me thinking, and I don’t believe some of the things they say but it raised some questions about art and my own art. So, I’m going to share the text from their piece: “Oh art, what are you? You are so strong and powerful, so beautiful and moving. You make us walk around and around, pacing the city at all hours, in and out of our Art for All room. We really do love you and we really do hate you. Why do you have so many faces and voices? You make us thirst for you and then to run from you - escaping completely into a normal life - getting up, having breakfast, going to the work-shop and being sure of putting our mind and energy into the making of a door or maybe a simple table and chair. The whole life would surely be so easeful, so drunk with the normality of work and the simple pleasures of loving and hanging around for our lifetime. Oh Art, where did you come from, who mothered such a strange being. For what kind of people are you - are for the feeble of mind are you for the poor-at-heart, are you for those with no soul. Are you a branch of nature’s fantastic network or are you an invention of some ambitious man? Do you come from a long line of arts? For every artist is born in the usual way and we have never seen a young artist. Is to become an artist to be reborn, or is it a condition of life? Coming slowly over a person like the daybreak. It brings the art ability to do this funny thing and shows you new possibilities for feeling and scratching at oneself and surroundings, setting standards, making you go into every scene and every contact, every touching nerve and all your senses. And Art we are driven by you at incredible speed, ignorant of the danger you are pushing and dragging us into. And yet Art, there is no going back, all roads go only on and on. We are happy for the good times that you give us and we work and wait only for those these titbits from your table. If you only knew how much these mean to us, transporting from the depths of tragedy and black despair to a beautiful life of happiness, taking us where the good times are. When this happens we are able to walk again with our heads held high. We artists need only to see a little light through the trees of the forest to be happy and working and back into gear again. And yet we dont forget you. Art, we continue to dedicate our artists art to you alone, for you and your pleasure, for Art’s sake. We would honestly like to say to you, Art how happy we are to be your sculptors. We think about you all the time and feel very sentimental about you. We do realise that you are what we really crave for and many times we meet you in our dreams. We have glimpsed you through the abstract world and have tasted of your reality. One day we thought we saw you in a crowded street, you were dressed in a light brown suit, white shirt and a curious blue tie. You looked very smart but there was about your dress a curious worness and dryness. You were walking alone, light of step and in a very controlled sense. We were fascinated by the lightness of your face, your almost colourless eyes and your dusty-blonde hair. We approached you nervously and then just as we neared you you went out of sight for a second and then we could not find you again. We felt sad and unlucky and at the same time happy and hopeful to have seen your reality. We now feel very familiar with you, Art. We have learned from you many of the ways of life. In our work of drawings, sculptures, living-pieces, photo messages, written and spoken pieces we are also to be seen, frozen into a gazing for you. You will never find us working physically or with our nerves and yet we shall not cease to pose for you, Art. Many times we would like to know what you would like of us, your messages to us are not always easily understood. We realize that it cannot be too simple because of your great complexity and all-meaning. If at times we do not measure up or fulfil your wishes you mus believe that it is not because we are unserious but only because we are artists. We ask always for your help, Art for we need much strength in this modern time to be only artists of a life-time. We know that you are above the people of our artist world but we feel that we should tell you of the ordinariness and struggling that abounds and we ask you if this must be. Is it right that artists should only be able to work for you for only the days when they are new, fresh and crisp. Why can’t you let them pay homage to you for all their days, growing stronger in your company and coming to know you better? Oh Art, please let us all relax with you. Recently Art, we thought to set ourselves teh task of painting a large set of narrative views descriptive of our lookin for you. We like very much to look forward to doing it and we are sure that they are really right for you. TO BE WITH ART IS ALL WE ASK.” This piece got me thinking while I was going through the museum. I also got to see a really cool Yoko Ono piece, which was in the third room I went in. Her piece, Wish Tree, is a project in where she set up a tree outside of the museum and left a stack of tags by the tree for people to participate in making the art. Viewers could take a tag and write any wish on it and hang it in the tree. The tree was outside in the sculpture garden but inside there was a clear box that was filled with these tags, millions of tag that she has collected. And, appropriately, there was a tag which read “I wish the Beatles were still together”. I found that to be a lovely coincidence. A triptych I also got to see was Garden II by Richard Artschwager, a painter/sculptor/photographer and eventually some architecture during the mid to late twentieth century. Artsachwager used synthetic polymer paint instead of oils, and the texture that it gives the painting is very luscious. Its looks smooth, if you were able to touch the painting it would feel like running your fingers over some very smooth and shiny plastic. Though it does have a smooth-like look to it there is still an incredible amount of texture. His painting handling reminded me a little bit of Van Gogh, in the sense that he used small spiral-like patterns within the painting. It gives it a little bit of a blurry, unpixelated look to it. But that paint handling is what had my eyes locked onto it. Oh, and also a Cézanne. One of my favorite painters and impressionists. And this particular painting is one of my favorites of his works. A class impressionist painter who bridged the gap between cubism and impressionism. His work is stunning, his technique, his color palette, all of it is wonderful work.

Dearest Francis Bacon, love of my painting life. I can’t even describe the fascination I have with Bacon’s work. If I had had the chance to meet him and work with him or in a studio with him it would have been a highlight of my life. His work really has a presence to it, even with his dark and disturbing feeling to it. His deconstruction of the figure isn’t just about the end result but more about the rawness of the figure, of the portrait. Instead of perfecting and idealizing his subject he does the exact opposite, it is such a fresh and intriguing way of painting a portrait. A reflection of what Bacon saw in the person is what he painted. And speaking of reflections, one of my most favorite things about Bacon’s work is that when he finished a painting and readied it to be presentable he always put a glass of pane over the piece. Now, you go to museums these days and there may be glass in front of many of the paintings, in the frame or no. But not many artists purposefully plan to put glass in front of their work for the presentation. But Bacon brings an element to his work just with the addition of glass that elevates the personal and emotional reaction from the viewer. The purpose for the glass is for the viewer to see their own reflection in his painting. When you get in front of one of his paintings, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll spend ages just staring at the painting and its details. The rough and specific marks of his paint handling are severe, yet so delicate in a way that has to do with the reflection and raw life that is staring back at you in the reflection. You think one thing about your reflection when you look in the mirror at home, yet in front of one of Bacon’s paintings you don’t see the same thing, you see yourself in a broken down and deconstructive manner. Yes, artists have been trying to get the viewer to experience a certain emotion or to understand the expression the artist was trying to convey for centuries, but no one quite puts the viewer into the painting like Bacon does. I could spend hours in front of a Francis Bacon piece. I could probably live under one, though I’m not sure that the museums would appreciate that. If you ever have a chance to see a Francis Bacon, do. His paintings in person are absolutely stunning and you can feel the essence of what he is trying to make you see. There’s so much that I would like to say about his work but some things about it I don’t know if I could even put in words. It just needs to be experienced in person.

Barnett Newman - ’Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachthani, the First Station’ - 1958 <> “The hard black stripe at the left in The First Station has an absolute ring of spirituality coming through the blackness and across the white field toward the right edge, where the more clouded human doubts about death and the condemnation seem to reside. In most of “The Stations of the Cross,” one may speculate that the left edge seems to address the eternal question: “why?”; whereas the right edge of the canvas suggests earthbound associations, human concerns - and there is a constant dialog between right and left.” - From Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being, Fineberg.

Share |

allison schulnik (http://www.allisonschulnik.com/) “skipping skeletons” the paint on this, is literally about one inch thick, if not more. its amazing. i wanted to touch it so bad, feel the texture, and get an understanding of what painting with that much paint would feel like. if only the beady little eyes of the employee weren’t looking through my skull, i would have tried to touch it. i only hope that one day i will have enough money to not worry about how much paint i’m using and be able to pile it on my canvas. all of her paintings have a very thick texture, that gives her such a new way to paint and to express the contents of her paintings. i am very intrigued with her work and wish to someday find a style of my own like she has found.