When it comes to some modern art, I like it simply because I know I would enjoy having it on my wall. Nice colors, cool swirls and designs, or multi-colored geometric shapes, etc. But I can't quite see it as ART. I can't see an artist putting much thought into simply designing something pleasing to the eye - for instance, Gerhard Richter's "1024 Farben", below, which I saw today.
There were some other paintings and sculptures and odd things, however, that were so very deliberate. One piece was called "Arabian Stars", by Jordi Colomer, and it was a video of a bunch of Arab chidren in Yemen walking through the streets holding various painted cardboard signs which said, in Arabic, "Picasso", "Pikachu", "Minnie Mouse", and later, several names of popular Arab poets and musicians. Watching it, I couldn't quite understand; was it political commentary? Western imposition of culture? A contrast between a new generation of Muslims and the "Arabian Stars" (note: not Arabic) and Western stars of the past and present? I wasn't sure. The cool thing about modern art that I kept thinking about today is that it isn't simply a representation of what the artist sees, but is frequently a deliberate attempt to persuade the viewer/spectator to really think hard about what the artist has put together and imagine what it could mean. After reading about the piece, I learned that Colomer was commenting, really, on Yemen specifically, and on its modern society, its use of Chinese plastics, Japanese cars, Russian Kalashnikovs. And she was also commenting on how Picasso is a name virtually unfamiliar to most Yemenis, while, she mentioned in an interview, she was corrected several times on the Arabic spelling of "Pikachu". And then, I wonder, is this really modern art? Or is it just a video that then needs so much additional explanation and background information that its really just social commentary in the end. Where is the art?
Anyways, here's Hannah and me in one of those odd outside-the-building escalators in giant tubes at the Centre Pompidou.
I liked this painting.
And this one.
On my way back home, I stopped in the Chatelet metro station to watch this group of musicians perform. They played mostly Ukrainian folk music, but I caught some Shalom Aleichem, too. It's hard to describe, but their voices and the music just filled up the station. Really beautiful harmonies. It was pretty mesmerizing - I could only get myself to leave after they started packing up.
4 comments:
I liked the music and singing was wonderful. You should have talked to them.
They're there very often. I'll talk to them one of these days.
don't you love blogging? Yeah it's voyeuristic and egotistic, but I like writing about what I'm doing.
And I like your first painting that you're not a fan of. I don't think modern art is just about what is painted. Yes you could probably make a similar painting, but he chose to make it large or small, how to paint it, what type of paint to use. It's not about a picture, it's a packaged experience. Just my thoughts!
agreed about the egotistic/voyeristic. i like reading your blog. how do you change your top picture so often? you find such nice photos.
also, i know what you mean. i am a fan of it but only because there are a bunch of nice colorful shapes. i would need to look something up to figure out the meaning, that's all.
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