The Carnegie International

I managed to make it to the
Carnegie International exhibit last weekend. I'm
enjoying modern art so much more in my old age! It's one of
the oldest modern exhibits in the country. Founded in the
late 19th century by Andrew himself, it's had the work of
all the big European and American artists (that nowadays hang
solidly in the permanent collections of big museums) when
it was still new (and mostly hated). Some of my favorites:
Mary Cassatt, Willem de Kooning, Edward Hopper, Camille
Pissarro, George Rouault, John Singer Sargent, and Richard
Serra.

This time I got museum goose bumps at two works. One was by

Julie Mehretu . There were 3 huge canvases, about 8' X
5'. The most impressive to me I describe as Jackson Pollack
with a pencil. It's a wonderful angular and geometric
chaos. I kept coming back to that one. I wish I had taken
a picture, but the lines wouldn't have come out well due to the
angular camera skew.




The second was a hexagonal room on which each wall was
projected a video of scenes of a man and woman walking
(individually) on the streets of Paris. There was a Phillip
Glass soundtrack playing in the background, which I
immediately recognized, but have no idea where I've heard it
before. The artist's name is href="http://www.cmoa.org/international/the_exhibition/artist.asp?rondinone">
Ugo Rondinone The work is called Roundelay. I just
felt myself walking in the countless cities where I've
wandered, always in a different state of mind, after
different things, thinking or not thinking, directed or
undirected. I wondered what those people were thinking,
where they were going. The streets were empty, stark,
severe. The Glass music was hypnotic. One of the first
times I've thought his music was perfectly appropriate.





I'm so lucky to get to experience this kind of work! I
still remember my favorite exhibit of all time. Chuck Close
at the Met. But that's a whole nother story.

With Appreciation and Gratitude.

Sean

PS: (How curious.. "a whole nother"... Never seen that written,
probably because it's wildly wrong. Ah, the beauty of
sinning with the spoken word...)