The Guggenheim typically has at least as many people peering over the edge of the dramatic giant ramp encircling the main exhibit space as looking at the art on the walls.
When we were at the Guggenheim last weekend, however, all eyes were looking over the edge -- because that's where the art was. The walls were empty. Instead, the art was hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the building.
"Maurizio Cattelan: All" is a retrospective of more than 130 of the Italian artists' works, all suspended with strong ropes and ingenuity. The Guggenheim has a tantalizing time-lapse video showing a little about how it was created.
I knew very little of Cattelan's creations before visiting; I had heard only of the most notorious -- a sculpture of Pope John Paul II hit by a meteorite (seen below in the top photo, on the bottom left) and another of a kneeling Adolf Hitler. So I knew we weren't in for watercolors and rainbows. But I didn't enter the exhibit intending to dissect it with an art historian's eye. Paul and I simply made our way up the ramp slowly, stopping every 60 degrees or so to see the sculptures at every angle -- above, below, behind, to the right and to the left.
"Maurizio Cattelan: All" runs through this Sunday, January 22.
No comments:
Post a Comment