The Guggenheim (New York 2)

(New York Part 2)

The Guggenheim 

I have been in the midst of exams, revision and essays, so please excuse the tardiness of this post. I have been dying to share with you, my dear readers my truly sensational trip to the Guggenheim when I was in New York.

The way the museum is laid out is truly innovative, the highlights being the light, space and elegantly curved  lines that gives the space a calming feel and the viewer can simply meander up the floors at  ones own pace rather than feeling like cattle being herded from one room to another. 

It also seems to me to be visually  linked to the new renovated Ashmolean museum in Oxford. The light and space really gives the viewers room to breath and experience the art in a new cutting edge way.

The exhibiton that was on at the time that I was there was called Gutai: Splendid Playground. This was an art movement that I had never heard of so I was intrigued and enthralled by the exhibiton. 

(Work [Water], 1956/2011)

Gutai artworks are mixed installation, performance and site-specific environments that rose from a response to the innovative exhibitions organised by the leader Yoshihara Jiro. The first piece of art that the viewer was confronted with was a documentary film of an outdoor Gutai art exhibiton in 1956. This gave the viewers an introduction into what the Gutai was all about.

Against the backdrop of the fascist unity that was cultivated by the Japanese government during world war II, Gutai stressed the development of the self and originality not as aesthetic but as existential issues. Gutai art was as much about the process of the work as it was the finished piece. There is an energy to this art movement that really reflects how 'the people' were feeling at the time, their release from oppression and their embrace of art as a physical activity.

Shiraga Kazuo’s ‘Work II’ (1958)

The art works gave the viewer a feeling of aggression but interestingly at the same time a hint of playfulness which the artists felt when creating these bold works, it makes us think that perhaps it was almost a  therapeutic way of dealing with the suppressed culture they lived in. 

Another interesting artist that the Guggenheim was exhibiting was Tayeba Begum Lipi, one of Bangladesh's leading contemporary artists. Her installation Love Bed made in 2012 was particularly shocking.

It depicted a double bed made out of razor blades and gave reference to the double kind of political and gender specific violence. The message given by Lipi is that love can often be violent. She has made other objects solely out of razor blades not only to shock but also because through her work she is trying to understand why the notion of beauty is permanently determined by a male audience, hence the inclusion of the razor blades (a predominately male object). 

Another work of art which I really feel I have to include which is part of the Guggenheim's permanent collection is Franz Marc's The Yellow Cow 1911. This is one of my favourite paintings ever and is part of Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) movement which was started by Marc and which Kandinsky later joined. In these paintings Marc developed a theory of colour and symbolism going hand in hand and had strong associations with spiritual values. 

To me looking at this painting simply lifts the heart and gives so much joy, as not only do the colours, but the subject matter which is so bold they seem almost farcical. The vivid cow appears to be floating through the landscape in a meandering almost peaceful nature that gives the viewer a sense of peace and contentment. 

Now my dear readers, a small note to finish with: What I have found recently to be frustrating about art galleries and museums is that no one seems to spend any time over art any more. I believe the average person spends about six seconds on a work and some, not even that. Another pet hate of mine which I found more prevalent in New York than London was the amount of people who simply took photos of the art works but didn't 'look'. I found this particularly shocking when looking at The Scream by Munch (talked about in my last post) that is held at the MoMA. One of the most famous paintings in the world and hardly anyone spent time on it, they simply took a photo and moved on.

I hope you have enjoyed reading some of the highlights of my trip to the Guggenheim and are left with the urge to visit yourself, as it truly is one of the most breathtaking museums in the world.

Once again it has been a pleasure,

The Raven's Eye Critic