I think the reason I’m so unsure about how to start this blog, is because I am [still] confused about the exhibit. Before I give my opinion, I’d like to explain where my confusion of it is coming from.
My father is an art dealer, so I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by art. Paintings, sculptures, I’ve had them all around me my entire life, and I’ve taken them for much of that time. I’ve recently gained a greater appreciation for artwork, but I’m still not…well, “sophisticated”. I’m still finding it difficult to enjoy a painting for its meaning, rather than just stare at a painting on a wall. For this reason, I had difficulty seeing and interpreting the sculptures as art with meaning. While they were interesting to the eye, I’m not sure I enjoyed them for anything more than painted, shaped metal. Looking back on it now, I still don’t understand what Anthony Caro “had to say”. As we discussed earlier today in class, can it be considered good artwork if I have to have his meaning explained to me? I want to be amazed and inspired by such a successful, credited sculptor, but I have trouble seeing his work as anything more than “pieces of metal”.
Perhaps my opinion of the exhibit was colored by what I heard about it before I actually went. I spoke to someone who previously saw it and his response was “they were just pieces of metal”. Perhaps my opinion of the exhibit would have been different if I spoke to someone who was excited about it, drew meaning and inspiration from it, and told me all about it. But then again, wouldn’t that be very similar to having the artwork explained to me? Who says I would have understood it otherwise?
I did not go with the class to see the exhibit on Friday night, with the Upper East Siders, a bar, and night setting . It’s safe to say that the exhibit has a whole different feel to it during the day. Either way, I love the city, night or day, so the view itself was beautiful to me. It reminds me of one day I was on a city rooftop last year, overlooking Manhattan, at twilight; the setting was beautiful, inspiring, and romantic. And with that in mind, I’d love to go back to the exhibit during this hour. Maybe I’ll understand the artwork a bit better then? And even if I don’t, I’m sure I’d feel that same awe-inspiring feeling on a city rooftop just as the sun is setting. While the sculptures would be something I’d have already seen, the mood of the scene never gets old.
