“The Language of Less (Then and Now)” Now at The Museum of Contemporary Art on E. Chicago Avenue
A Review
By BLAKE GOBLE
Go on any fashionable, hip site. Like say, a site that sells contemporary t-shirts and prints, or a pop cultural feed site, like Shirtoid, or Society6 or Buzzfeed. Go to any of them , and one will find a shockingly high volume of “minimalist” art. Movie posters are re-interpreted with single icons, or lines of text allude to the source material. A “Logan’s Run” poster re-make features a ribbed, rubber sphere suggesting “a world of pleasure”. Or, a UniCef tee at Threadless.com featuring a cartoon cargo plane runs for $300,000, suggesting the cost of supporting that icon in reality.
Posers.
Walk into the Museum of Contemporart Art's exhibit “The Language of Less (Then and Now)”, and the sights are too striking to brush off. It's the real deal.
On the Now side, a large safety glass pane rests cracked on floor, covered in clear wrap by artist Oscar Tuazon. A single set of navy mats are intertwined together and displayed ever so perfectly. Carol Bove's "Harlequin" may at first seem like spread sheet metal on plexi-glass, until one looks through and sees the amazing distortion that occurs with the space.
On the Then side, a large, metallic chess board takes up a chunk of floor, and onlookers avoid it with discreet fidelity. Yellow to orange squares lay within each other on canvas, and Masters like Frank Stella, Josef Albers and Robert Morris say so much, with absolutely nothing. These works could represent anything from color theory and how it makes us feel, or how the artists felt about Vietnam and Civil Rights. But the prompts, are not forced. That's never been the point of Minimalism, or minimalism.
Fortunately, The Museum of Contemporary Art knows about real minimalism. Er, beg pardon, Minimalism. Minimalism, that misunderstood movement of the 1960's, where artists were challenging themselves to address the most profound and worldly themes, with the very least artistic material possible. That’s a distinction this trend seems to forget. Art can be creatively succinct and thoughtful, yet something is lacking in the historical/contextual sense. Modern onlookers tend to slight these ideas.
From this month until March next year, MCA will be hosting “The Language of Less”, a riveting two-sided exhibition. It is an important exhibit, a relevant one, an exciting one, and even a frustrating one too that needs to be seen. Few appreciate the purpose or roots in minimalism, and "Language of Less" is an exemplary showcase of some of the finest, sparest and most thoughtful art of the 20th and 21st Century. It's not just about tee-shirts. It's about roots in social unrest and art theory, and looking at space for that extra second and realizing something completely different about what's being looked at.
The exhibit allows the art to merely exist within the space. Interpretation is open, and often rewarding. As the exhibit says, it's about "how objects assemble basic markers of the visual experience." Lofty stuff, for seemingly simple work. Same could be said for iPods, right?
“Language of Less” is a gem and a fantastic exercise. It’s important to look at that minimalist Spider-Man print, and realize how one sees the film with so little. Yet, how key is the social relevance there? It’s easy to think of what something on a facile, obvious level. But to look at something, see and read more from it? To feel and experience something beyond what is obviously put right in front ourselves, and see a time where people were trying to make sense of their work and themselves? That’s sublime.
In minimalist fashion: Worthwhile.
Go on any fashionable, hip site. Like say, a site that sells contemporary t-shirts and prints, or a pop cultural feed site, like Shirtoid, or Society6 or Buzzfeed. Go to any of them , and one will find a shockingly high volume of “minimalist” art. Movie posters are re-interpreted with single icons, or lines of text allude to the source material. A “Logan’s Run” poster re-make features a ribbed, rubber sphere suggesting “a world of pleasure”. Or, a UniCef tee at Threadless.com featuring a cartoon cargo plane runs for $300,000, suggesting the cost of supporting that icon in reality.
Posers.
Walk into the Museum of Contemporart Art's exhibit “The Language of Less (Then and Now)”, and the sights are too striking to brush off. It's the real deal.
On the Now side, a large safety glass pane rests cracked on floor, covered in clear wrap by artist Oscar Tuazon. A single set of navy mats are intertwined together and displayed ever so perfectly. Carol Bove's "Harlequin" may at first seem like spread sheet metal on plexi-glass, until one looks through and sees the amazing distortion that occurs with the space.
On the Then side, a large, metallic chess board takes up a chunk of floor, and onlookers avoid it with discreet fidelity. Yellow to orange squares lay within each other on canvas, and Masters like Frank Stella, Josef Albers and Robert Morris say so much, with absolutely nothing. These works could represent anything from color theory and how it makes us feel, or how the artists felt about Vietnam and Civil Rights. But the prompts, are not forced. That's never been the point of Minimalism, or minimalism.
Fortunately, The Museum of Contemporary Art knows about real minimalism. Er, beg pardon, Minimalism. Minimalism, that misunderstood movement of the 1960's, where artists were challenging themselves to address the most profound and worldly themes, with the very least artistic material possible. That’s a distinction this trend seems to forget. Art can be creatively succinct and thoughtful, yet something is lacking in the historical/contextual sense. Modern onlookers tend to slight these ideas.
From this month until March next year, MCA will be hosting “The Language of Less”, a riveting two-sided exhibition. It is an important exhibit, a relevant one, an exciting one, and even a frustrating one too that needs to be seen. Few appreciate the purpose or roots in minimalism, and "Language of Less" is an exemplary showcase of some of the finest, sparest and most thoughtful art of the 20th and 21st Century. It's not just about tee-shirts. It's about roots in social unrest and art theory, and looking at space for that extra second and realizing something completely different about what's being looked at.
The exhibit allows the art to merely exist within the space. Interpretation is open, and often rewarding. As the exhibit says, it's about "how objects assemble basic markers of the visual experience." Lofty stuff, for seemingly simple work. Same could be said for iPods, right?
“Language of Less” is a gem and a fantastic exercise. It’s important to look at that minimalist Spider-Man print, and realize how one sees the film with so little. Yet, how key is the social relevance there? It’s easy to think of what something on a facile, obvious level. But to look at something, see and read more from it? To feel and experience something beyond what is obviously put right in front ourselves, and see a time where people were trying to make sense of their work and themselves? That’s sublime.
In minimalist fashion: Worthwhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment