Sunday, November 27, 2011

High Museum of Art in Atlanta: Two Exhibitions 2011


Kiki Smith
American, born 1954
Born, 2002
Color lithograph, 68⅛ x 56⅛ inches.


On Friday I was able to view two exhibitions at the High Museum of Art, especially relevant to my work and research:

1. "Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters"

http://www.high.org/moma.aspx#/Picasso-to-Warhol/landing

I was happy to see that at least one female artist was represented in the exhibition, Louise Joséphine Bourgeois

and one black american artist, Romare Bearden. In the end though it left me feeling the exhibition curators included these two to placate political correctness, rather than a true effort in re-informing the art canon of Modern Art.

I most enjoyed seeing the maquette of Henri Matisse's window for the Rockefeller Center, which was a life size cut-out rendering for the window. I have never seen a stained glass maquette in color as large. It was really fascinating to see a maquette exhibited as a piece of artwork, and gives me some cues on cultivating that as an exercise in my own work. I also was humored by the lack of exactness in the cutting and pasting; something which I would criticize my own students about, and something I remember hating when I was a student in Color class at MICA. I always hated that rubber cement and envied other students that were able to neatly glue without smudges and marks on the colored papers.

2. "Kiki Smith: Rituals"

http://www.high.org/Art/Exhibitions/Kiki-Smith.aspx

So I viewed my first Kiki Smith exhibit, at least that I can recall. She was exhibited at Weatherspoon Museum in Greensboro in the past, but I do not have a direct recollection of viewing. I enjoyed seeing the works, mostly prints and at least one sculpture. I found her works very metaphorical and symbolic.

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