Spring Break
International star Franz West graces BMA exhibit
Issue date: 11/6/08
Next, viewers are invited to sit in a metallic chair and contemplate a suspended box. Although the act might seem mundane, there is something thrilling about breaking the invisible barrier between art and viewer that is so dominant throughout typical exhibits.
The following gallery provides a sampling of the various furniture designs that West has undertaken throughout his career. Cabinets, tables and chairs are quaintly arranged in model rooms, demonstrating how they might fuse a home, café or club with an artistic sensibility.
The exhibit then returns to more conventional modes of display with a series of free-standing papier-mache works that produce a sense of motion through their seemingly unstable stance. Each of these galleries is enhanced by the collages that line the walls, creating an atmosphere that holds true to West's attempt to make art an engaging experience.
A particularly notable part of the exhibit is the "inactivity center," which sits adjacent to the main exhibition. It is a room fashioned with an enormous wall of magnetic poetry, couches where viewers can lounge to rest, read or express impressions of the exhibit. Museum-goers are invited to "dial-a-curator" by picking up a phone and finding out the answers to a series of pre-recorded questions.
All in all, the exhibit offers a vibrant, colorful and interactive experience, which so starkly contrasts with the typical exhaustive one that comes from a day at the museum. Rather, viewers are likely to leave this exhibit feeling energized. It also provided a good sense of West's purpose and general body of work without being overwhelming.
However, like so much of modern art today, it seems that West's work relies largely upon novelty. While his work is charming, the pleasure gained from it is ephemeral. His work is cute, playful and innovative, but by no means is it great. This criticism applies to much of modern art today. While West's work might amuse us today, the determination of its greatness rests on whether it can succeed in amusing us tomorrow as well.
The nationally traveling exhibit Franz West, To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008 will be on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art through Jan. 4, 2009.
The following gallery provides a sampling of the various furniture designs that West has undertaken throughout his career. Cabinets, tables and chairs are quaintly arranged in model rooms, demonstrating how they might fuse a home, café or club with an artistic sensibility.
The exhibit then returns to more conventional modes of display with a series of free-standing papier-mache works that produce a sense of motion through their seemingly unstable stance. Each of these galleries is enhanced by the collages that line the walls, creating an atmosphere that holds true to West's attempt to make art an engaging experience.
A particularly notable part of the exhibit is the "inactivity center," which sits adjacent to the main exhibition. It is a room fashioned with an enormous wall of magnetic poetry, couches where viewers can lounge to rest, read or express impressions of the exhibit. Museum-goers are invited to "dial-a-curator" by picking up a phone and finding out the answers to a series of pre-recorded questions.
All in all, the exhibit offers a vibrant, colorful and interactive experience, which so starkly contrasts with the typical exhaustive one that comes from a day at the museum. Rather, viewers are likely to leave this exhibit feeling energized. It also provided a good sense of West's purpose and general body of work without being overwhelming.
However, like so much of modern art today, it seems that West's work relies largely upon novelty. While his work is charming, the pleasure gained from it is ephemeral. His work is cute, playful and innovative, but by no means is it great. This criticism applies to much of modern art today. While West's work might amuse us today, the determination of its greatness rests on whether it can succeed in amusing us tomorrow as well.
The nationally traveling exhibit Franz West, To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008 will be on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art through Jan. 4, 2009.
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Doerflinger Tuchman
posted 5/23/09 @ 12:32 AM EST
Yes i agree with you , and nice news thanks. This realy nice news , i watch for them .
Brozek Cliett
posted 6/20/09 @ 5:13 AM EST
A friend of mine directed me here and I wanted to comment and thank you for all your hard work.
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