Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2018

Like Life Exhibition

Like Life The Like Life exhibition at the Met Bruere confronted varying depictions of the human body ranging from the idealized white figures of antiquity to hyper-realistic silicone molds that were practically indiscernible from a real person. Themes of the depiction of flesh, articulation, skin and surface, and personal identity were addressed with examples from 1300 to the present. This was a welcome difference from the typical museum collections of classically ideal figures that can only be talked about in terms of form and not through their emulation of life. Many were related to aging and the life/death process, others were celebrations of the materiality of the body. Some of the work dealt with the inherent visceral quality of the human body, sometimes showing only a limb or a heap that had the qualities of flesh. The exhibition was structured not in a chronological, but a thematic order, which really helped enliven the show. For example, works regarding the...

Noguchi Museum

Noguchi Museum Visit                         I had not previously seen the work of Noguchi before visiting this museum, and overall it was an enjoyable exhibition. The variety of materials in his work was well balanced, showing he experimented with many ways of making rather than sticking with one thing he knew well. This amount of experimentation is very healthy for artists as it keeps them from getting stuck repeating the same type of work over an d over. An artist can certainly concentrate in a specific area or medium, but a certain amount of variety keeps the viewer interested across and exhibition. However, Noguchi also knew how to popularize his art. By creating his interpretations of traditional Japanese lanterns, he created art pieces that were not expensive collectors’ items but accessible to the general public. This is important for many artists as it connects...