Of all the contemporary/modern artists on display at SLAM, Gerhard Richter is my favorite. I know how that sounds, but I adore all of the pieces of his that the museum owns – including this one. I hadn’t seen it before they unveiled the Bauhaus retrospective exhibition, but I kept coming back to it and going, “Oh, I love that so much.” I hadn’t even looked at the plaque, just the painting itself – and then suddenly, it all made so much sense. It has a very dreamy feel, much like Grey Mirrors (literally grey paneled mirrors) and Betty (a portrait version of his daughter), while maintaining an almost abstract version of real objects.
Tag: modern art
Saturday
This particular work was one of the most hyped pieces of newly acquired art in the SLAM collection in 2019, and with good reason: it is absolutely beyond visually striking. Beyond its visual appeal, its cultural impact is like a meteor strike in this city: this is not just a painting. This is a movement, a symphony, a riot in C Major.
Friday
There is no right or wrong way to view or interpret this painting. The way I feel about it is not the way you may feel about it; the way I believe that it communicates may not be the way you believe it communicates. There is no one size fits all. And that is very important.
Monday
I’ve loved this painting desperately since the first time I saw it. There’s something both quirky and subtle about it, while all the time being emotionally engaging. The sensation of motion, the pull of the waves and sounds of the ocean and cries of the gulls are just as loud as the colors on the canvas, and they reach out to you from the paint, crying out to be heard.
Saturday
This is another one of those problematic American sculptures that smacks of institutional racism but at the same time is breathtakingly beautiful for what it is and the sheer bloody talent that went into the piece. It isn’t ideal, nor is it idealized except in the artist’s eyes, and it should be said as such. In fact, the features are over-exaggerated in a way that even the ancients would likely have cringed at and thrown away; instead, it is an approximation of an approximation and rather more like an idealized caricature of a female form than any idealization of a modernization. It even has a bit of the post-impressionism expressionism or slightly pre-Art Deco about it without really managing to be any of those things.
Wednesday
First off, the background is not grey. It’s kind of a watercolored effect of grey, blue and green that comes off as a muted greyish tone in most places. But it definitely isn’t just grey. And I will fight anyone that says it is.
Secondly, it doesn’t matter what the forms are meant to be. What matters is that they are meant to be both positive and negative within the space. They are meant to both work as sharpness and softness against the background, and that is why the background tone is watercolor muted and mixed as it is – to give the distinct definition that the angles and fluid lines need in order to work as they need. And I will fight you if you say otherwise.
Tuesday
In this, I see a waterfall in a jungle. Don’t ask me. I don’t even know.
Monday
This is reminiscent of a candle flame in tones of grey to me. I enjoy the fluid lines and imagery suggestive of a dancer’s delicate form in the abstract crumpling and shaping.
Sunday
In many ways, this painting screams grief and despair. It is all angles and desolation and emotional distance, stark contrast of colors and furious slashes of highlights that don’t quite fit where they’re meant to. It’s wrong and painful and yet… you can tell it’s meant to be therapy. It is a benediction, a begging for life to feel normal again, a tiny glimmer of hope in the darkness of deepest depression.
Saturday
A few simple lines, a simple form, and yet… it’s so evocative that our minds are tricked into seeing things that aren’t there.