A Visit to the Guggenheim

Today I went to the Guggenheim with Paul, a new friend. I met Paul at NoHo Gallery as I prepared for my last tour. We talked about our mutual love for the arts and decided to see an exhibit together. Paul just left the US to return to his native Amsterdam. He worked at NoHo as part of an internship through his college, where he is majoring in Museology, the study of the organization, management, and function of a museum.

At the Guggenheim we saw a show titled Haunted, comprised of contemporary photography and video installations from a range of artists. Many of the participants are well established and widely recognized, while others are just emerging onto the art scene.

Two pieces really spoke to me. The first, titled Curtain, 2004, was executed by a German artist named Markus Hansen (b. 1963). He created the work out of dust, varnish and breath on glass. That's right- BREATH on glass! I have never seen anything fabricated out of that mixture of materials. When looking at the work from a distance, all you see is a translucent, soft beige curtain. Upon closer inspection, however, you are able to detect two sheer layers of fabric that almost appear three-dimensional. You want to poke the glass as if to feel the material. It was incredibly well rendered. The Young Collectors Council at the museum purchased the piece for the Guggenheim collection in 2004.

I was also really drawn to a series by artist Sarah Charlesworth (b. 1947), a native of New Jersey. Her work, titled Herald Tribune: November 1977 is comprised of 26 prints, where each print is a different page and different consecutive date in November from the year 1977. Interestingly, though, the artist has removed the body of the text from the paper, and left the viewer with everything else, which includes images and the paper details (the title, date, edition, weather, etc.). Like Hansen's Curtain, I had never seen anything like it. I couldn't help but ask myself "who would think to do such a thing - she photographed already "printed" paper, and created a work of art from the layout and images alone." I was truly impressed with her originality.

For more information on Haunted, visit the following link:
http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/haunted/#/overview