Last week I went to 3 exhibitions/events that have allowed me to see the importance of context in the interpretation (and enjoyment) of a work of art. Note that I differentiate “interpretation” and “enjoyment”, although for many of us, those two concepts go hand in hand. But this is just a short post, so the Phenomenological Aesthetics will have to wait (you can read Dewey, Hartmann, Adorno, Ortega y Gasset, Sartre, etc, etc in the meantime 😉 )
Yesterday, along a MeetUp group, we visited several art galleries in Chelsea (NY): Mike Weiss Gallery, Gladstone Gallery, Luhring Augustine Gallery, Metro Pictures Gallery, The Pace Gallery, and Mary Boone Gallery.
Leaving my personal comments on the displayed works aside (as usual, the pleasure of this kind of pilgrimage is to leave your mind and senses open, and let the works and stimuli slowly sink in), one thing surprised me quite a lot: Ai Wei Wei‘s work Sunflower Seeds was supposed to be walked on (at least it did at the Tate Modern in London, for the first 10 days of the exhibit), but at Mary Boone Gallery there is a security guard that prevents visitors from doing exactly what the artist intended.
My friend Victoria Contreras is a real Renaissance artist, what we would call today a hacker artist: one that explores different media, different methods, different interest, in a bold, almost childishly uninhibited playful way. While the influences are obvious, and not everything is on the same level (as is always the case in those who try it all), this is what I would call “a case of interesting people”.
See for yourself.
Mickey Hart, Dar Williams, Bella Gaia (AWESOME), & The Abrams Brothers (country/folk/rock energetic brothers… that violin was smoking! loved it) concert at Highline Ballroom.
Cool mix of music, dance and infographic visuals with eco message. Highly recommended (even the veggie burger was good!).
The world around us is full of signs. I wont go on dabble about _signifiers_, _meanings_, and the psychoanalitycal importance of the _word_. But sometimes I just cant help myself, when I see a sign begging for a creative interpretation:
Cmon, dont tell me you don`t see something like:
If you press this button, your mouth will become a hotspot
or
A giant asteroid is heading towards your SpaceInvaders spacecraft, push the button to destroy the asteroid with a Dune-sque voice-blast
Tonight we went to the Mayson Gallery inaugural inauguration “Launch” featuring works by Doug Henders, Scott Hewett, Michael Oatman, Jeff Quinn, Bastienne Schmidt, and Rodger Stevens. It was way too crowded to see the works, but it was fun. Particularly because we enjoyed dinner at almost next door Jin Japanese restaurant.
But we wish we were at another art inauguration: IVAM`s Claudio Zirotti.
My dear friend and mentor presents “Without Time” (PDF), an excellent exhibit of his wonderful art at Valencia`s IVAM Modern Art Institute, until February 19th 2012.
